Compétition officielle

A wealthy businessman (José Luis Gómez) in search for fame and social prestige decides a new aim , to hire a famous filmmaker to help make a smash hit picture. To achieve this goal, to make a unique, groundbreaking film he hires the best of the best : A stellar team consisting of famous filmmaker , the bittered , weird Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) and two well-known actors who boast not only an enormous talent , but also an even bigger ego: Hollywood star Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and aging theater thespian Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez) . They're both legends, but not exactly the best of friends . Through a series of increasingly hilarious tests set by Lola, Félix and Iván find themselves entangled into discorcenting and usettling experiences .

A charming and sympathetic Dramedy about a troubled shooting that goes wrong . Argentines Cohn and Duprat direct this satire on the world of art and cinema starring three of the most recognized Spanish-speaking actors worldwide : Antonio Banderas , Penelope Cruz , Oscar Martínez . As in their previous films , the pair of directors addresses in this film issues such as limits in the world of art , hypocrisy , ego , and the prejudices that some artists have against others , issues that on this occasion revolve around the film process. A nice and interesting drama/black-comedy , in which two actors , directed by an extremely rare filmmaker , must confront not only each other, but also their own legacies and resulting in fateful , unpredictable consequences . This is a nice movie containing drama , humorous elements , irony and satirical events. Here stands out the terrific acting by this great trio starring : Penelope Cruz , Antonio Banderas and a great Argentinean actor , Oscar Martinez , playing perfectly a proud and really serious actor . Oscar Martinez is considered to be the most famous Argentine actor with Ricardo Darin, Rodolfo Ranni and Dario Grandinetti. Being well accompanied an attractive support cast , such as : José Luis Gómez as a billionaire businessman , Irene Escolar as his daughter and brief appearances from Manolo Solo , Pilar Castro , Koldo Olabarri , Juan Grandinetti , Melina Matthews , among others.

The motion picture was competently directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn , they formerly made some decent films . As they have directed a dozen movies , with which they obtained more than thirty international awards, among which stand out The Artist (2008) , The Man Next Door (2009), The Distinguished Citizen (2016), My Masterpiece (2018) and Official Competition (2020). Their big hit was ¨El ciudadano ilustre¨ (2016) , it was No. 1 at the box office Argentine comedy of the year , getting submission of Argentina for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 89th Academy Awards in 2017 and won several prizes and nominations , such as : Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina 2016 Winner Award of the Argentinean Academy Best Actor Oscar Martínez , Best Supporting Actor Dady Brieva , Best Screenplay - Original Andrés Duprat . While this Official Competitio (2021) getting a number of prizes and nominations , such as : Chicago Indie Critics Awards (CIC) 2023 Nominee Windie Best Foreign Language Film Jaume Roures ; Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards 2022 Nominee DFCC Best Screenplay Mariano Cohn ,Andrés Duprat ; Feroz Awards, ES 2023 Winner Feroz Award Best Film: Comedy ; Film Club's The Lost Weekend 2022 Winner Lost Weekend Award Best Supporting Actress Penélope Cruz ; Goya Awards 2023 Nominee Goya Best Cinematography Arnau Valls Colomer ; San Sebastián International Film Festival 2021 Nominee Sebastiane Award Best Film Mariano Cohn , Gastón Duprat; Spanish Actors Union 2022 Nominee Award of the Spanish Actors Union Best Actress in an International Production Penélope Cruz , among others.

Opinion seems to be divided here about whether this is a comedy, possibly because the humour is pretty dark. Maybe some weren't laughing because they could see the jokes coming a mile off. But I still guffawed about half a dozen times, even if the portrayal of egotistical and vain actors was familiar and a little cliched. Possibly another reason some didn't laugh so much was on account of the robust, sometimes bracing humour which doesn't kow-tow to political correctness. Some laughed at the scene in which the elderly producer's daughter, cast to keep him on side and providing finance, is basically molested by each actor and finally ravished on the floor by Penelope Cruz, but I actually found it slightly shocking and unnecessary. There's also a lot of misogyny directed at Cruz by the warring male actors, although she does play several cruel tricks on them. So not 'light' but dark comedy, I would say. Great performances all round, I especially liked Oscar Martinez.

The three stars of this movie are Penélope Cruz as famous director Lola Cuevas, Antonio Banderas as famous actor Félix Rivero, and Oscar Martínez as another famous actor Iván Torres. In a stroke of good planning the three actors also are the producers.

A wealthy businessman turning 80 wants to be remembered for something. Maybe build a bridge and name it for him? No, he finally decides to buy the rights to a novel and have a movie made. Lola will direct, Felix and Ivan will star as the brothers in a broken family relationship.

The two actor characters each have large egos, the title could be a reference to their competition with each other during rehearsals. But also near the end, when a news conference is being held, it is at an "official competition."

I will not say more about the contents of the movie, suffice to say it is brilliantly scripted and executed. Some small, seemingly insignificant, things we see during the middle of the movie return to be very important as the final scenes roll. A really entertaining and thinking person's movie.

It is in Spanish with English subtitles, which isn't my favorite way to watch a movie, but it was not difficult to both read and watch.

This movie criticizes movie actors and directors, but from a funny perspective where satire dominates the entire movie.

This story reflects in a funny way two different types of actors, although they seem caricatured, in reality they can have that personality, it also portrays how ridiculous and pretentious some directors can be, adding some exaggerated ways of directing the actors. The story also tells how to prepare the actors to make a movie, which is interesting and works as a starting point to create an unfriendly environment between the characters. The performances are spectacular, and the script doesn't ramble into unnecessary situations, although at the beginning it may be difficult to connect with the story, the rest of the time it is very enjoyable and funny.

It's a good movie that not only serves as a distraction, but also takes us a little deeper into the process it takes to make a movie, specifically the relationship between the actors and with their characters.

This movie is marketed as black comedy (it could be blacker for my taste) but it is basically a vehicle for great actors to overact, making fun of their profession but also show facets of their craft (there are many ways to say "Good Day"). On the other hand the movie draws attention to some facets of filmmaking that is usually neglectet, e. G. the importance of how sound is recorded.

We've seen many films about filmmaking and art, and this is definitely not one of the worst of its kind.