10 Movies Which Go From 0-100 Right At The End

On the surface, Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s Spanish-language dramedy Official Competition, about multi-millionaire businessman Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez) hiring reclusive and neurotic director Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) to produce an art film about a man unable to forgive his brother for killing their parents while drunk-driving, may seem pretty slow-moving. And it is.

To bring the production together, Lola hires method stage actor Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez) and Hollywood actor Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas), pitching their unique styles against each other to draw out the sibling rivalry on screen. What follows is a comedy of personalities, where the two stars spend weeks in private rehearsals and tests conceived of by Lola, battling each other while simultaneously sinking into their parts.

The film is far from dull, but does spend a hefty amount of time on intense character exploration within a single location – the director’s large, designer house - feeling at times like a piece of theatre. But everything comes to a head when, at a party to celebrate the start of shooting, Félix confronts Iván on the roof and throws him to the ground below, rendering him comatose. The film then literally speeds up, with a montage of the following months, as the shoot completes with Félix in both roles, Humberto finances a bridge, Félix returns to Hollywood, and Iván awakens from his coma, cursing Félix's name.