271. Official Competition (Competencia oficial); movie review

 

OFFICIAL COMPETITION (COMPETENCIA OFICIAL)

Cert 15

115 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language

There have been dozens of movies about film-making but few have been entrancing or as funny as Official Competition.

This is an acting masterclass by three of the Spanish-speaking world's best - Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez.

They turned a superb satire into a glorious romp under the superb direction of Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat.

The premise is that a billionaire (José Luis Gómez) feels the need for a philanthropic gesture as he reaches his 80th birthday. Thus, he alights upon a plan to produce one of the greatest movies ever made.

He hires a much-acclaimed director (Cruz) who is renown for  her bizarre methods and foul temper and pays a huge amount for the rights to a lauded novel.

The film is largely a two-hander and she brings in two famous actors (Banderas and Martinez) who have very different approaches to their work.

Banderas plays Félix, a multi-award winner who has great popular appeal.

Meanwhile, his co-star  Iván (Martínez) cares more for his art rather than plaudits or popularity.

The two spark like a firework show as their progressively more aggressive director gives them a series of wacky exercises to help engineer the perfect rapport.

Official Competition is a beautiful canvas on which Cruz, Banderas and Martínez paint a vivid picture of the creativity of the early stages of making a film.

It is almost exploding with ego and creates several laugh-out-loud moments.

Only those involved in the industry will know how much it exaggerates the players and the process but I thought it was an utter delight.

During a summer of dull movies, it was a rare welcome beacon of light.

Reasons to watch: Cracking cast and plenty of laughs

Reasons to avoid: Some will find it too wacky

Laughs: Six

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 9/10

Did you know? Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas had only shared on-screen time previously during two minutes of Pedro Almodóvar’s 2013 film I’m So Excited!

The final word. Penélope Cruz: "I was inspired by a few people, although not all of them from the film industry and not all of them women. The directors and I had watched a lot of video interviews of these people to take notes of the outrageous things they would say. I created a Frankenstein character based on them and what we all shared on the strangest things that have happened to us on set." The New York Times

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