Official Competition

Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas are a riot in this delightful Spanish satire on actors, egos, and film art.

Although they are famous for multiple iconic movies with Pedro Almodóvar, and appeared (separately) in Pain and Glory (2019), incredibly Banderas and Cruz have only acted together on-screen once before, in the brief prologue to I’m So Excited (2013). If that was an amuse-bouche, this riotous comedy from Argentine filmmaking team Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (2016’s The Distinguished Citizen) is a veritable feast. Cruz plays film director Lola Cuevas, a celebrated if unconventional auteur on the festival circuit. She is approached by an elderly pharmaceuticals millionaire (José Luis Gómez) who has decided to finance a masterpiece of cinema to burnish his legacy. There’s a Nobel prize-winning novel, and juicy roles for two male leads. Cuevas casts international movie star Félix Rivero (Banderas) opposite Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez), a revered, deeply serious stage actor, calculating that their diametrically antithetical acting practices will colour their performances. But the intensity of their rivalry threatens to spin her movie off its axis.

Two hours of sharp reflections deliciously wrapped in entertaining antics.

Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter

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