Senna Movie - US Dates/Locations

Highest reviews:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/senna/

 

I'll go see it, but I'm expecting to be pretty much alone in the theatre.

 

Brilliant, saw it twice so far, once in NY with McLaren, once at home with friends.

 

This week in the UK it becomes the third highest grossing documentary in UK cinema history and has been rolled out much farther and longer than originally planned

It has had a brilliant campaign with mainstream and less mainstream reviewers emphasising that its a human story that happens to be set in motor racing

 

What no Houston showing!!!

 

IMHO - Senna was an *****. But, I'll go see the movie anyway.

 

Doubt it - it is sold out for today's screening in Boston.

 

Interesting - though these couple of hundred million people sitting and watching his funeral believed he was an idol.
Also thought he was a great driver - probably the best of the last twenty years...

 

I simply just found Senna to be 1000% dedicated to F1 and winning. Yes he came off as an arrogant prick and had me scratching my head at times but I also realize his personal drive was always a few rungs above others it seemed. We have not had a driver like him in F1 since that black day back in '94.

Anyway this debate is actually not relevant to the topic, we all love and despise Senna for our own reasons and really nobody is right or wrong imo.

 

Senna vs. Prost: wow, that pretty much epitomized Formula One for me at the time.

It will interesting to see what racing clips they included in the film about their fierce rivalry.

 

Saw it in London last month.

The Senna/Prost section focuses mostly on the 2 Japanese Grand Prix's we all know about. Nothing really new there to be honest...except to highlight was an arrogant human being Balestre was...just watch the clip of the drivers pre race briefing Senna walks out of and shudder in Balestre's embarresment.

The film is a mixed bag...some brilliant moments (the in car shot qualifying lap at Monaco took my breath away) some rehash moments...some lovely moments especially from Sid Watkins.

A few oddities....

The most quoted person in the movie is the ESPN F1 commentator (don't know his name) which for a European was odd...but that's because I am a European (no Murray Walker !)

I am pretty certain the guy who does the voice over is Apple's Jonathan Ive (if you all know who he is)...if not its total doppelganger of his voice ...I forgot to check the credits.

For me not quite enough footage of Senna making the car "dance" as was brilliantly referred to in the film.

But those are nit picks. If you get the chance see this film. It is wonderful. My two takeaways :

1. I have never sat in a cinema FULL of middle aged men and women trying desperately hard not to cry after the Imola crash footage. You could have cut the unspoken atmosphere with a knife as they say...

2. I have never been in a cinema where no-one and I mean no-one left their seats until 2-3 minutes after the full credits had finished rolling. It was as if I and everyone else was taking time to reflect on the loss of a genius (an overused word but not in his case) far too young.

He may have seemed an ****** to some people as alluded too in this thread but see the film and enjoy the man for what he was. Purely and simply a genius.

Summary - It's brilliant but desperately sad.

D.

 

I hope it does well here. "Formula 1" and "documentary" probably won't cause a stampede to the theatres, but who knows...

 

I too question how well this film will do in the US, but hopefully we'll be surprised. I saw it in Monaco the Friday before the GP (May 27) and the theater was only about 5-10% full- pretty surprising considering that almost everyone in town was there for the race (were it not for the GP Monaco would be dead in May, and many locals flee in order to avoid the race-related hassles).

 

I've seen it. Brilliant documentary and I am looking for to seeing the directors extended cut. It's supposedly 5 hours!

 

As for all the crap regarding my previous post that Senna was a jerk - I offer the following:

In Senna's opinion, he had the divine right to pass anyone ahead of him. He expected other driviers to pull over, even when fighting for position. I remember clearly one race where he passed someone (Alessi I beleive when he was a rookie and driving for someone other than Ferrari), Senna passed on the inside, but Alessi had the line for the next turn and repassed him. I saw it - it was all clean - great racing. Anyway, after the race Senna punched Alessi. It made all the news - but I guess all of you experts are too young to remember. Anyway, doing something like that defines being a prick.

Also, I have met and spoken with Sterling Moss, and he is another arrogant jerk. In the conversation (at Pebble Beach the year following Mansell's championship) , I mentioned my like of Nigel Mansell and said that Moss was probably happy that a Brit had finally won the world championship (it had been a long-long drought for them). In repsonse, Moss went off on a tirade against Mansell - and me - that flabergasted me (I later found out the two were having a feud.) Anyway, I got pissed of that this 5'-3" old man had the balls to be so abusive, and said that it was all sour grapes for him because he had NEVER won the championship. At that point, his buddies (read body guards) seperated us because it was clear he was ready to hit me and that if he had I would have kicked his ass.

Bottom line - these guys don't get to the top of the heap being nice guys.

 

Since there have been no new snide remarks...I figured I would re-open the wounds.

Actually, after thinking about it, I think it was Eddie Irvine that Senna hit with a sucker punch in the pits. To me - that was just inexcusble. He should have been demoted to NASCAR where such actions are the norm.

In summation, it is very difficult to make it to the top in any profession. It is even more difficult in sports, where millions are trying for just a few spots - even at the bottom of the ladder. F1 racing just ups the ante. Unless you are insanely talented, you have to be completely focused on your own success - to the detriment of being a nice guy. Senna was insanely talented and also a focused, me-first jerk. That's why he made it to the very pinacle.

Coming from San Francisco, I always idolized Barry Bonds. Best hitter EVER. If he had never taken a steroid, stayed slender like in his early days, and tried to hit to all fields instead of homering all the time, he would have hit near .400 every year. Hell, he hit .360 with the infield pulled to the right in a switch and swinging for the fences. But, everyone seems to conclude that he is an ego-centric jerk.

That's life.

As to my personal friendship with AS - never met the man. But, I would ask all of you that so gallantly defend his virtue and criticize my evaluation - is your love of Senna based upon any personal experience????

 

But this thread is not about you it is about where Americans can now see this film and make their own minds up