TIFF 2021: Official Competition Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

The film industry for the most part is a smattering of different egos and personalities ranging the spectrum of ridiculousness but nevertheless, the Hollywood machine continues to consistently produce for better or worse. Sometimes audiences need to be reminded of this. Featuring a sharp script and spectacular performances from Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas among others, Official Competition is a hilarious satire that takes a look behind the façade of the industry. Though its sheer ridiculousness will certainly not be for everyone, it is still an entertaining watch that takes a few unexpected turns over the course of its sub 2 hour running time. Arguably the kind of film that could never be done here, this Spanish film transcends language as its humor and commentary is still very relevant to the environment here. The film is well aware of what it is and doesn’t take itself too seriously as its take no prisoners approach was definitely refreshing.

Official Competition follows the production of an aspiring prestige film as an aging millionaire businessman (José Luis Gómez) turned to producing a great cinematic work as a means to leave his mark on the world. Tasking eccentric director Lola Cuevas (Cruz) to create the film, she casted a pair of veteran actors who couldn’t be any more apart, a traditional thespian and acting teacher named Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez) who acted for the love of the profession and Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas), a more traditional Hollywood movie star type who acted for popularity, awards, and the money. Playing that clear contrast for the sake of her film, watching these ideological opposites play against each other was an absolute delight. Offering more than just a contentious relationship, their arc was an unpredictable push and pull where it was unclear where they or their film will end up.

As much as the ridiculousness of the contrast between Iván and Felix made for an entertaining watch, Lola was the driving force of that dynamic, contributing her fair share towards the craziness with her own eccentricities and unorthodox style to filmmaking. Beyond the wackiness, peeling back the layers off of these three characters was just as strong as it helped to ground their motivations and add a sense of purpose to the story. And this ultimately would not have worked if not for the sharp script and spectacular performances from Cruz, Banderas, and Martinez. Cruz was a scene-stealing force as Lola while Banderas perhaps took a few shots at himself as both played against type. Martinez, meanwhile, certainly held his own as more of a straight man for the other two but he still gave in to the craziness at times.

In the end, Official Competition is an unexpected delight that fans of Cruz and Banderas will enjoy but is most importantly, one of the most hilarious experiences of the year.

 still courtesy of TIFF

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.