Spanish Film Festival Film Review: Official Competition

Images courtesy of the Spanish Film Festival.

Stepping into the Astor Theatre on Opening Night of the Moro Spanish Film Festival, my expectations of Official Competition were, naturally, as sky-high as the level of stardom seen in its credits. Directed by Argentine art-house director duo Martin Cohn and Gaston Duprat, the film’s star-drenched cast features Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez in the leading roles. 

The result? Honestly, it took me some time to process. 

This film is a chilling critique of the cinema world, the entertainment industry, egoism and art. But it's not all seriousness, the film is a comedy. 

Official Competition opens with 80-year-old billionaire business mogul Humberto Suarez, played by José Luis Gómez, who makes the curious choice of financing a movie purely for legacy purposes. His only concern is for the film to be the best, with the best actors and best director. Enter Palme d’Or-winning director Lola Cuevas, Cruz’s character, who is commissioned to run the project with full creative control. Sporting a large and delightfully ridiculous, red perm hairstyle, Cruz's chaotically passionate portrayal of Lola is clear from the get-go as she insists on an adaptation of a book, “Rivalry”, a story about two brothers. She’s also unabashedly insistent in her choice of the two leading actors to play the brothers. 

This sets the premise for the film as most of the plot takes place during a multi-day acting rehearsal set up by the director with the two leads, played by Banderas and Martinez. All three are egotistical individuals with large and in many ways opposing personalities that play on stereotypes of the art and cinema industries. This is where we see the ‘competition’ element of the film and thanks to brilliant performances from the actors, a lot of the humour.

Official Competition takes the tired old trope of ‘a movie about making a movie’ for a cheeky ride with its meta self-awareness. As well as presenting the creative process and problematic aspects of the movie industry in the narrative, there is an added layer of depth as the film’s IRL cast and creators, to an extent, seem to mirror the characters in the story.  

There’s Oscar Martinez, an IRL award-winning actor on-screen and on-stage, famous predominantly in Spanish-speaking cinema and has numerous theatre accolades to his name, playing the character Ivan; an indie Latin cinema darling and ageing thespian who values his work as an acting teacher and constantly denounces Hollywood throughout the film. 

Antonio Banderas, IRL global name in cinema and acclaimed actor seen in major cinema franchises from Hollywood as well as Spanish cinema, plays Felix; an arrogant, world-famous movie star. 

Even Cruz’s Lola; the eccentric director, somewhat mirrors Official Competition’s directors Cohn and Duprat, whose arthouse films have screened at many a film festival.

I found myself laughing pretty often during Official Competition. The humour is sometimes deadpan and dark and at other times, self-aware as it pokes fun at filmmaking. While the exercises the director Lola takes her actors through are shockingly absurd, there is a sense of honesty in the portrayal of actors pushing themselves to their limits for their work and directors pushing their actors to best fit their cinematic vision.

The dialogue is very verbose, in typical ‘wanky artist’ fashion. I found it to be a bit tiring and confusing at times, trying to decipher if there is a greater meaning or purpose to what is being said. By the end of the film though, I felt Lola’s long and colourful speeches about letting go of ego and being an artist are just part of her character and the overall satire.

Despite all this, the film retains a dramatic quality, especially as tensions rise between the characters and in the way the narrative comes to an end. In an interview with Inside Media, Official Competition director, Martin Cohn put it perfectly, describing the film as a ‘comedy that plays out like a drama.’ 

Personally, the whole meta-inception-story-within-a-story is not my usual cup of tea. However, Official Competition doesn’t fade into using conventions of the trope. What separates it, is that rather than focusing on production and the movie-making process it's focused entirely on the actors and their craft. 

And that’s exactly what shines brightest in Official Competition, the acting! 

It may borrow the tired trope of a-movie-within-a-movie but its unique spin as a dark, self-aware satire about acting, ego and cinema is sure to make you laugh.

Official Competition is currently screening at the Spanish Film Festival in Melbourne between the 21st April and 15th May 2022. It will be released in cinemas nationally on July 21.

For tickets and more info on the Spanish Film Festival, click here.