Taglines Poner el arte a competir es atroz. [Making art compete is atrocious.]
Official Competition Movie Storyline. Having surveyed his legacy and finding it lacking in prestige, an octogenarian millionaire pharmaceutical tycoon (José Luis Gómez) decides to finance a great work of cinema. He purchases the rights to a Nobel Prize–winning novel about sibling rivalry and entrusts the property to enigmatic auteur Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz).
A visionary conceptualist with a penchant for offscreen theatrics and micromanagement, Lola casts as her embattled co-leads a pair of veteran thespians who couldn’t be less alike: Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez) is a revered educator and legend of the stage much concerned with ethics and artistry, while Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) is a glamorous global star known mostly for brainless, bombastic entertainments.
Alternating between exacerbating the actors’ mutual antipathy and uniting them in their discomfort with her psychologically tumultuous rehearsal techniques, Lola seeks to capture the drama of two alpha males vying for the limelight — but it won’t be long before the gambit goes off the rails.
Awash in egomania and deliciously absurd behind-the-scenes hijinx, Argentine writer-directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat’s Official Competition is an ingenious, icy satire. Largely a chamber piece, the film provides its central trio with ample opportunity for both vulnerability and scenery chewing. Martinez deftly reveals the childish wounds underlying Iván’s high ideals, while Banderas utilizes his star power to craft a portrait of a man consumed by his own celebrity. But it’s Cruz, sporting a magnificent cloud of ginger curls, who becomes the film’s anchor as a master manipulator looking on as her grand scheme spirals out of control.
Official Competition (Spanish: Competencia Oficial) is a 2021 Spanish-Argentine comedy film directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, from a screenplay by Duprat, Cohn, and Andrés Duprat. It stars Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, Oscar Martínez, José Luis Gómez, Nagore Aranburu, Irene Escolar, Manolo Solo, Pilar Castro, Koldo Olabarri, Juan Grandinetti and Amanda Goldsmith. The film was released on September 4, 2021 (Venice), February 25, 2022 (Spain), March 17, 2022 (Argentina) and June 17, 2022 (United States).
Official Competition (2022)
Directed by: Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, Oscar Martínez, José Luis Gómez, Nagore Aranburu, Irene Escolar, Manolo Solo, Pilar Castro, Koldo Olabarri, Juan Grandinetti, Amanda Goldsmith
Screenplay by: Mariano Cohn, Andrés Duprat, Gastón Duprat
Production Design by: Alain Bainée
Cinematography by: Arnau Valls Colomer
Film Editing by: Alberto del Campo
Costume Design by: Wanda Morales
Set Decoration by: Claudia González Carbonell, Sol Saban, Paula Santos Santorum
Art Direction by: Sara Natividad
MPAA Rating: R for language and some nudity.
Distributed by: IFC Films, Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: September 4, 2021 (Venice), February 25, 2022 (Spain), March 17, 2022 (Argentina), June 17, 2022 (United States)
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