By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.7 cats
Director: Gastón Duprat | Mariano Cohn
Starring: Antonio Banderas | José Luis Gómez | Manolo Solo | Oscar Martinez | Penélope Cruz
Original language title: Competencia oficial
Country: argentina, spain
Year: 2022
Running time: 115
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11700260/reference/
Diane says: “A wealthy man decides to fund a movie to establish his legacy. Either that or build a bridge. With the rights to a novel in hand, his aide brings in the high-level, but artsy, director (Penelope Cruz), and two top actors—Antonio Banderas as a blockbuster movie star, and Oscar Martinez as the actor who prioritizes the craft. (‘I wouldn’t let them pay me what they paid him,’ he says of his costar.)
“As the days pass, the two actors get deeper and deeper into contention, the director talks to herself through a vacuum hose, and the naive producer flees the rehearsal set in agonized embarrassment. The first half of the movie is full of Saturday Night Live giggles (the good old SNL, that is!). The second half, while continuing the satiric look at the industry and the egos in it, loses steam, which may also be the point.
“Recommended for fans of Cruz. I would nominate the film for makeup—her face and hair. And the wonderfully pathetic dance she does, alone in her room, is another highlight. 3 cats.”
Tom M. says: “Tour de force by Cruz, that hair, those brows, the underarms too…. plus she knows how to kiss better than either leading male…. I was wondering who she was fashioned after, Lupino, Bigelow or??”
Chris says: “A wacky comedy in deadpan plainclothes and all the more effective for it. Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas have rarely had so much fun together onscreen (at least not since their cameo in
I’M SO EXCITED!) and Oscar Martinez is a good foil for both. I’d have shaved off maybe ten or fifteen minutes, but not the plastic wrap scene, already an all-timer.
4 cats“
Vicki says: “Films about filmmaking are often not as spot on as this one. A millionaire hires a film maker to make a film that will be his legacy. . That filmmaker is none other than Penelope Cruz complete with marvelously outrageous red hair. She is the type of director who is determined to bring out the best in her cast and to tell the truth. She decides to make a movie about brothers who are rivals and casts Antonio Banderas as one and Oscar Martinez as the other. Their acting styles clash and this is revealed as Cruz begins to use rather unconventional methods to rehearse. Banderas plays the comedian well while Martinez comes off as pompous. Everything in the filmmaking process is fair game for satire and the result is an often hysterical film. It’s the talent of the cast and the words of the screenwriter that make this a memorable film. 4 cats“
