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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