Senna 2010

Tom Long, Detroit News: Even if you can't tell Formula One from Grecian Formula, Senna is pretty exciting stuff. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The movie's assemblage of audio interviews poured mostly over astounding race footage is fit for a shrine. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The film is two things: a discreet hagiography of the handsome, soft-spoken Senna, who was only 34 when he died in a 1994 crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in Italy, and a compressed, esoteric slice of Formula One history during his 10-year ascendance. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Surely the most thorough look at the art and passion of auto racing yet made. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: A celebration of a singular spirit in an impure sport. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: "Senna" is carefully edited and makes sometimes spectacular use of extensive home movies and videos. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: If you're a fan of Formula One, you'll enjoy seeing this footage on the big screen, but unlike the great sports documentaries (Hoop Dreams, When We Were Kings), this one offers little to those not already versed in the subject. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: Senna is considered one of motorsporting's greats, but Asif Kapadia's film also makes it clear he was a sort of artist, his talent accompanied by an unquenchable thirst for excellence and a belief that racing offered him a connection to God. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: You don't have to know anything about car racing at all. Instead, you simply have to like a great story, one that has all the elements: drama, inspiration, competition, victory, defeat, betrayal and, looming above it all, tragedy. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: You don't have to know a thing about Formula 1 racing to become engrossed by "Senna." Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Most interesting for the way its construction builds on the inherent austerity of auto racing. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Plays like a narrative feature, juicy and alive, with enough kinetic excitement to hook the Formula One-ignorant (me, I knew next to nothing about the subject), let alone racing fans worldwide. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: There are some thrilling you-are-there sequences shot inside the racing car from his POV as he zooms around the tracks. It's like watching a video game made real. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: A psychologically intriguing if at times too hagiographic portrait of a man who often held pole position in his profession and felt nearer to God because of it. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Kapadia expertly contrasts episodes of adrenaline-rush speed with moments of reflective slow motion to capture the addictive thrill and danger of the sport, as well as the personal values of the humble, spiritual sportsman. Read more

Christine Champ, Film.com: Captivating, chilling, and surprisingly sublime. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Fine documentary about one of auto racing's greats will please fans and make some new ones. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Senna" is a documentary with the pace of a thriller, a story of motors and machines that is beyond compelling because of the intensely human story it tells. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: It's stripped of narration, talking heads, and anything else that might threaten to slow it down. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Kapadia has, quite daringly, decided to rely completely on primary materials - although occasionally we hear the voices of after-the-fact observers, what we see is what happened then. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: Their pain translates through the screen not just because it's real, but because Kapadia tells a story here that inspires genuine empathy for it. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Kapadia creates a full picture of a talented driver (rain on a track was a good omen for him) and his humble family, and the country that embraced him at a crucial time in its history. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: My interest in watching men drive machines in ovals is limited, and in this documentary the title character mostly comes across as an uninteresting dope. Read more

Una LaMarche, New York Observer: There is simply not enough material to make a compelling movie, even though Mr. Kapadia appears to have used every last frame of footage from the Formula One archives. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Senna is earnest, eloquent, and impossibly charismatic, and his rocketing ascension through the ranks of professional drivers - gunning his car at more than 200 m.p.h. down the straightaways - is something to behold. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: "Senna" is a documentary that does the job it sets out to do. I wish it had tried for more. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Senna" is such a vivid and powerful film about a larger-than-life personality that I hesitate to criticize it, but racing aficionados will notice a heavy and perhaps inevitable degree of hagiography. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Senna feels a touch too short to be fully realized -- but then again, so was Ayrton Senna's life. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: There's not an ounce of fat or a wasted shot throughout. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Senna" is simply the greatest sports film I have ever seen. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Kapadia is working with an embarrassment of riches, but to his credit he selects wisely, and has the good sense to keep the talking heads off the screen. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Real life eclipses fiction in delivering a tale that combines heroism, villainy, suspense and a surprising amount of emotional resonance. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: Within the expertly edited archival construct, Kapadia maintains a respectful but less-than-adulatory view of Senna himself, and a caustic assessment of Formula One and its then-president Jean-Marie Balestre. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Even nonbelievers in Senna's sport and church will find it difficult to visit Kapadia's cinematic shrine without emotion. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: What makes "Senna" essential viewing is the propulsive education it provides in one of the world's most popular sports, and the introduction it provides to an extraordinary athlete and human being. Read more