Senna

[SPZ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrbJPsPtTyU

I truly recommend all to see this. Yes, its more of an editing job than a conventional filmmaking piece, but its amazing cinema and storytelling. Its one of the most gripping, edge of your seat documentaries you will see this year.

I'm probably a bit biased since I'm a motorsport fan, but its the first documentary or film that portraits well the intricacies of top level motor sports (or any top level Sports, for the mater) that I've seen. And, above all, its an inspiring story of a human being, beyond the sport itself: its also about how a man changed, with his talent and determination, a whole country's perception of itself and also the future of a billion dollar sport.

Well worth a watch, and would love to hear your opinions about it.

 

[SPZ]

I agree. I liked the fact that the narrative is told by the "characters" in the film, and not by a "Voice of God" (voice over). This is probably the ultimate "multi-cam" project, if you know what I mean

What's been surprising is the great reception this film has been receiving amongst non motorsport fans. I was a bit disappointed with Roger Ebert's review, which I believe was because he just couldn't rate well this film for the apparent lack of conventional "filmmaking" - no camera crew, for example. I think, however, its a fantastic job of filmmaking. While the director didn't "direct" the picture capturing process (which already happens in other conventional and award winning documentaries), he did direct and construct, through audio and visual narrative, a great story and a fantastic film. It was a very good approach to the subject. In my view, its the most successful film to portrait the world of Formula 1 till this day. Its interesting: the whole media coverage of the formula 1 world in the past 2 decades, both on the racing and on the personal lives of the pilots is enough to create a truly cinematic narrative. That's why its so difficult to portrait top level sports in the big screen through conventional fiction: because the real deal is as cinematic as it gets, and you get it live!