Where to watch: ‘Official Competition’ is now playing in select theaters.
By nature, artists can lean towards being pretentious types. Their manic methods and peculiar processes can be so full of inflated pomp that they lend themselves quite easily to mockery. It’s these types of characters that the new film Official Competition playfully pokes fun at, parodying the self-made drama that arises when artists and their competitive egos collide.
A Spanish film with English subtitles, Official Competition is a movie about making a movie. While most great show biz satires tend to mine comedy from comically disastrous on-set events that occur during filmmaking, here, the comedy is all taken from pre-production. Table reads, acting exercises, and ongoing talent demands get center stage spotlight. Not only are all of these moments played out with hilariously observed detail, they’re also quite fun to see played out, as we can probably assume it mirrors the real process with A-list actors closer than we know.
Official Competition is aware of all of the egos involved in filmmaking, starting from the top: the financier. Here, that’s somber billionaire Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez), who, after questioning his grand empire and legacy (looking out his high-rise skyscraper’s large window–because, how else would you do so?) decides to make a movie to be remembered by. It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t read the novel that he’s paid a fortune to adapt; that’s for eccentric director Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) to figure out, whose constantly lit clove cigarettes and tuft of comically wild red hair mirrors her own wild artistic spirit and uncompromising vision.
For the film at the center of it all–Rivalidad (Rivalry, in English), about two competing brothers–Cuevas casts two accomplished actors of equal acclaim and talent, but whose approaches could not be more opposite. The role of wiser older brother “Pedro” is to be played by Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez), a theater actor and acting teacher who’s more studied, intellectually composed. A-list popcorn actor Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) is to play the self-destructive younger brother “Manuel,”is cast. Suffice it to say, the actors and their methods differ wildly, which the film has great fun with. Especially when Lola introduces her own wild ways of rehearsing for the film.
The film consists mostly of escalating sketches between these three comically insufferable artists. They are constantly topping each other with their obnoxiousness (but importantly, unconsciously so). It’s a hilarious three-hander between Cruz, Banderas, and Martínez, who all perfectly cast and exceptionally hilarious here. While Martínez the actual actor was a revelation to me–his composed, intellectual performance being finely constructed–it really is Cruz and Banderas who steal the show here, who have never been funnier. Cruz’s manic, laser-eyed drive towards exacting her vision is a new turn for the actor, and Banderas as the hunky, dopey celebrity knows how to get the most laughs from his big dumb bravado. Seeing them all together in stripped-down, intimate scenes between just one, two, or three of them makes for an intimate and fun watch.
Directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (who wrote the script along with Andrés Duprat), Official Competition uses its inflated pretension to hilarious effect. The comedy is captured with an absurdly sophisticated self-seriousness, making the entire world obnoxiously laughable. Specifically, I was reminded of the tone in Ruben Östlund’s art world satire The Square. Further, the elaborate props and stagings throughout–whether a hilarious surplus of microphones to capture a rather steamy audio test, or a boulder hanging by a crane for an acting exercise–make for great scenes and visual comedy.
Surprisingly, Official Competition is even more than just a silly, one-note send up of show biz. Really, the story touches on the hypocrisy in human behavior, and the inherent conflict that arises in how we may wish to be, and how our more basic, impulsive, egotistically-driven selves stunt that. The film shows that all three actors are secretly yearning for the thing they pretend to be above (validation, commercial success, relevancy on TikTok), and a few lines on art gave me pause in thinking how prescient they are.
Once I was attuned to the film’s comic style (which is accomplished in the opening scene), I was all-in. I was either smiling or laughing out loud watching the whole way through (save for an ending that’s designed to disrupt the fun). For my money, so far, Official Competition is the funniest film of the year. It’s a pitch-perfect comedy with smart writing and direction and some of my new favorite performances from some of film’s best talents. This film is a true winner. Not that it’s a competition, or anything.
1h 54min. Distributed by IFC Films. ‘Official Competition’ is rated R for language and some nudity.
