Senna

Directed by Asif Kapadia

(PG-13)

***

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This compelling sports documentary “plays like a narrative feature,” said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. The story of three-time Grand Prix racing champion Ayrton Senna, it “generates enough kinetic excitement to hook the Formula One–​ignorant” along with racing diehards. Making the most of a trove of racetrack footage, director Asif Kapadia retraces the Brazilian racer’s brilliant career up until his death on the track, at age 34. Kapadia goes light on Senna’s private life, instead plunging viewers directly into “the white-knuckle action” of his track battles with rival and onetime friend Alain Prost, said Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post. The film captures the adrenaline of Formula One “with jittery, driver’s-eye-view footage” and offers a “protagonist everyone can root for.” What it lacks is an explanation of “what drove Senna to drive,” said Tom Long in The Detroit News. You’re told that this deeply religious son of privilege was fearless but are never shown why. Though the film makes great visceral viewing, “it’s pretty much all about the sport, not so much about the actual human being.”