It’s time for another edition of “The Best Thing For You”!In this feature, I will offer my expert recommendation of things you should watch, listen to, eat, fuck, and/or generally consume to make your otherwise pallid life finally worth living! Trust me - as your physician, I know the best thing for you.
In this edition, I recommend the 2021 Spanish-Argentine film Official Competition:
Here’s the story: an 80-year old billionaire wants to leave a positive legacy. So instead of building a bridge, he decides to finance a film. He buys a Pulitzer prize winning novel and hires genius director Lola (Penelope Cruz) to helm the story of two feuding brothers played by acclaimed stage actor Ivan (Oscar Martinez) and famous movie star Felix (Antonio Banderas). The film follows the rehearsal process and the power struggle among the three very different artists as they move toward production.
Tonally, Official Competition mostly plays as a comedy. And it is very funny - most of the laughs come from the arrogance and pretension with which each character approaches his craft. In a sequence which struck my particular funny bone, Ivan arrogantly tells Felix he would refuse to go to the Oscars… and then practices a speech refusing the award in front of the bathroom mirror. As they jockey for artistic superiority, all three of the principals betray their underlying silliness. No one escapes the skewering - the volatile experimental director, the vain movie star, the serious actor with ‘integrity.’ They are all grist for the satirical mill of directors Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
But what really made Official Competition jump off for me was the depth of the characters. The subjects weren’t vicarious villains of celebrity sociopathology like Lydia in Tar or heavy-handed symbols of societal inequality like the castaways in Triangle of Sadness. Despite leading with their hubris, Duprat and Cohn imbue Lola, Ivan, and Felix with enough vulnerability to keep them from veering too far into lampoonery or hate-watching. Despite their massive egos, they are not cruel or devoid of empathy. There is a humanity in their neediness. It’s an interesting tightrope to walk and an even harder one to make succeed.
As an indie filmmaker, I am always impressed with doing a lot with a little. And despite the gorgeous opulent surroundings of the mansion the actors rehearse in, Official Competition is a very small story. It is essentially three people in a room, arguing about art. Despite the lack of “action,” there isn’t a moment where the movie loses its momentum. It highlights for me what can be done with a good script, smart direction, and great acting.
And the acting performances are spectacular. One of the hardest things to do for an actor is to play an actor, particularly when they are required to be either a very good or very bad actor. Martinez and Banderas are required at times to do both and they thread the needle beautifully. Cruz manages to keep Lola eccentric but grounded. Despite ample opportunity, she never veers into the showy “look at how wacky this character is” kind of acting that drives me nuts.
With all the content being thrown at us, Official Competition might be an easy little movie to sleep on. From what I have seen in my (admittedly limited) sphere of noticing things, it hasn’t gotten a lot of attention. Despite the magnitude of its stars, it’s not really a headline grabber. I only heard about it from my friends Jen and Henry (whose Substack you chumps should also be reading). But do yourself a favor and check it out - it’s the best thing for you!
Boogie Writes is a completely independent endeavor by one hard-working funnyman trying to make his way in the world today (which takes everything you’ve got.) If you like what you read, please subscribe, support, and tell a friend! Also - do you need advice? Of course you do! Send your queries to brendan@brendanboogie.com with “Dear Boogie” in the subject and get some solid or at least passable advice!