Lotus

The German auto industry has long been one of the most (if not the most) respected on the planet. Much of that has to do with its reputation for precision engineering and attention to detail. Still more has to do with knowing that most new models get tested to their limits on the Autobahn and/or the Nürburgring. Bottom line: Deutschland takes this car building stuff seriously.

However, when it comes to showing off those new cars, the city of Frankfurt likes to throw a party every other September, and it also invites manufacturers from other nations to join in the four-wheeled revelry. (Naturally, things never get too crazy, what with Oktoberfest being mere weeks away.) This year’s guest list is one for the ages, but we were still able to pick out the 20 automotive attendees (10 concept models and 10 production models) we’d most like to chat up by the punchbowl.

For the last 20 or so years, on the rarer-than-a-total-eclipse-of-a-blue-moon occasions that a motorsports-centric movie lands in theaters, viewing audiences have been subjected to at least a handful of the following tropes in any given flick: Laughably bad CGI. Laughably improbable crashes. Laughably obvious continuity goofs. Laughably appalling “acting.” Laughably clueless writing. And, most prolific of all, laughably formulaic and schmaltzy romance plots and subplots. In short, the Razzies selection committee is left with sore midriffs and a glut of nominees, while real racing fans are left searching for paper bags to place over their heads upon exiting the theater. Not good.

Thankfully, Senna – the documentary about three-time Formula 1 world champion Ayrton Senna – has none of these concerns, as it is a nonfiction film constructed entirely from archival footage and interviews from the proverbial “people who were there.” But this is hardly a “paint-by-numbers” documentary; there’s far more depth to it than that.