Wendy Ide 

Williams review – a driven man, in a tale that lacks throttle

The dramatic life story of Formula One’s Frank Williams suffers in an unwieldy and contrived documentary
  
  

‘Scarred by tragedy’: Frank Williams in a scene from Morgan Matthews’s documentary.
‘Scarred by tragedy’: Frank Williams in a scene from Morgan Matthews’s documentary. Photograph: Action Plus Sports Images/BBC films/Curzon Artifical eye

Slightly contrived and unwieldy in structure, this documentary about Formula One legend Frank Williams lacks the throttle to match the success of Asif Kapadia’s film about Williams’s doomed driver, Ayrton Senna. There is, however, plenty of drama to explore. Obsessed from a young age with motor racing, Frank Williams was a driven character, in every sense of the word. His is a life lived at high speed and scarred by tragedy. The film is let down by an overlong running time and a prurient attempt to crowbar an emotional response from the taciturn Williams.

Watch a trailer for Williams.
 

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