Antonio Banderas as “Félix Rivero” and Penelope Cruz as “Lola Cuevas” in Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat’s Official Competition. Courtesy of Manolo Pavon. An IFC Films release.
In the satiric comedy Official Competition, Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas star as an auteur director and international action star, both with egos the size of Montana, who are hired by an aging wealthy businessman intent on financing a big, award-winning hit movie as a vanity project. The humor is pointed and wits are sharp, as wealth, egos, art and particularly movie-making come under the comic guns of Argentinian co-directors Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohen in this hilarious Spanish-language satire.
As he turns 80, millionaire businessman Humberto Suarez (Jose Luis Gomez) decides he needs a monumentally big project to leave a lasting legacy. But what should be choose? A bridge designed by a famous architect bearing his name? A charitable foundation? No, a...
In the satiric comedy Official Competition, Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas star as an auteur director and international action star, both with egos the size of Montana, who are hired by an aging wealthy businessman intent on financing a big, award-winning hit movie as a vanity project. The humor is pointed and wits are sharp, as wealth, egos, art and particularly movie-making come under the comic guns of Argentinian co-directors Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohen in this hilarious Spanish-language satire.
As he turns 80, millionaire businessman Humberto Suarez (Jose Luis Gomez) decides he needs a monumentally big project to leave a lasting legacy. But what should be choose? A bridge designed by a famous architect bearing his name? A charitable foundation? No, a...
- 7/1/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This review of “Official Competition was published on Sept. 4, 2021 after the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
To trot out the old adage, “scratch a cynic, find an idealist” in reference to “Official Competition,” a modest showbiz sendup that premiered, fittingly enough, in official competition at 2021’s Venice film festival might be putting it a bit too harshly. Frankly, it wouldn’t take more than the morning breeze or the soft touch of an infant to wipe away the thin layer of satire that (barely) covers a deeper, almost evangelical belief in the power of movie stars.
In some ways you could call it a throwback in the sense that it runs totally counter to the high-concept, IP-driven model of recent Hollywood output. “Official Competition” co-directors Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn would rather offer viewers a no-concept, light and breezy big-screen hangout, betting that audiences will turn out...
To trot out the old adage, “scratch a cynic, find an idealist” in reference to “Official Competition,” a modest showbiz sendup that premiered, fittingly enough, in official competition at 2021’s Venice film festival might be putting it a bit too harshly. Frankly, it wouldn’t take more than the morning breeze or the soft touch of an infant to wipe away the thin layer of satire that (barely) covers a deeper, almost evangelical belief in the power of movie stars.
In some ways you could call it a throwback in the sense that it runs totally counter to the high-concept, IP-driven model of recent Hollywood output. “Official Competition” co-directors Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn would rather offer viewers a no-concept, light and breezy big-screen hangout, betting that audiences will turn out...
- 6/17/2022
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
The new film from Argentine duo Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn effectively asserted its destiny with its title: How could the Venice festival programmers resist putting a film called “Official Competition” in their official competition? Some things just make sense, and by premiering in this way, Duprat and Cohn’s droll, dippy insider comedy neatly completes the last of its many, many in-jokes: Whatever life the film has beyond the festival circuit, it will never again play to so perfectly targeted an audience.
How amused viewers outside the film’s satirical crosshairs will be by “Official Competition” remains to be seen. As it traces the fractious pre-production process of an art-house film being made for cynical commercial purposes, the film will certainly mine dark laughs of recognition from industry folk. Perhaps civilians will appreciate its puncturing of the egos and pretensions of the privileged artist class, after being drawn in by big,...
How amused viewers outside the film’s satirical crosshairs will be by “Official Competition” remains to be seen. As it traces the fractious pre-production process of an art-house film being made for cynical commercial purposes, the film will certainly mine dark laughs of recognition from industry folk. Perhaps civilians will appreciate its puncturing of the egos and pretensions of the privileged artist class, after being drawn in by big,...
- 9/5/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
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