Films lampooning the moviemaking process rarely get much darker than The Player, Robert Altman’s 1992 pitch-black skewer that struck right at the heart of Hollywood. In a town where the people who make movies are usually the first to congratulate themselves on their progressive politics, Hollywood is full of hypocrites and tyrants. But Official Competition, the new dark comedy from Argentinean filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, proves that it’s just not American filmmakers who deserve ridiculing.
Starring Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez, Official Competition begins as Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez), an octogenarian millionaire, is pondering how to best cement his legacy. Rather than contribute his money to a humanitarian project, Suárez opts to produce a film, as if making a movie is a more noble venture than building a bridge. After spending a good deal of money to secure the rights to a Nobel Prize-winning novel, Suárez enlists the lauded gonzo filmmaker Lola Cuévas (Cruz) to direct the story of two estranged brothers. A story that Suárez hasn’t even read. Rather than play it safe with casting, Cruz hires Iván (Martínez), a pretentious theater actor, and Félix (Banderas), a self-absorbed leading man, to play the lead roles.
Rather than limit their satire to commercial filmmaking, Cohn and Duprat turn their lens to the entire industry as Félix (representing the soullessness of big-budget art) and Iván (the brooding, highfalutin cynic standing in for the non-commercial), face off in an escalating series of japes and barbs over a nine-day rehearsal period. Banderas digs into his role as the spoiled Félix with relish, embodying every childish cliché that comes to mind about a leading actor who cares more about how he looks than his craft, from driving a Lamborghini to dating women a fraction of his age. Iván, on the other hand, hates everything that Félix stands for and treats him with callous contempt. But even he is above reproach. A collector of obscure vinyl and an Artist with a capital A, Iván is just as obnoxious as his counterpart. Lola has brought them together, believing this friction would enhance their performances as estranged brothers. But her unusual methods don’t make things any easier for the warring actors.
As the days wear on, Lola begins to test her stars. One day she will ask them to rehearse while sitting under a precariously held five-ton boulder while the next she will wrap Iván and Félix together in plastic wrap and force them to watch as she destroys the manifold trophies and awards they have earned over the years. Cohn and Duprat aren’t taking sides here. Lola is as much a target as the vain Félix and unbearable Iván. That is part of what makes Official Competition so enjoyable – it is easy to dislike everyone in equal measure.
Official Competition is a slow burner that takes its time to dig in. There are plenty of gags but rather than be laugh-out-loud funny, this is the type of film where the laughter sticks in your throat. All three of the leads are game, diving into each insufferable character with relish. When Banderas tells a young actress right before they rehearse a make-out scene, “Sorry if I have an erection. Sorry if I don’t,” you realize just how sly the humor is in Cohn and Duprat’s film. The Player may have been rotten to the core, but Official Competition still leaves a little room for humanity and it’s there, as Iván and Félix battle for our sympathies, that it succeeds.
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