MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Film round-up with Maria Duarte
Reviews of Official Competition, Black Mail, Mr Malcolm's List and Beast
Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz in Official Competition
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
Official Competition (15)
Directed by Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat
★★★★
ARGENTINE duo Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat team up again, this time to take aim at the pretentious world of cinema and art in this surreal, biting satire about a millionaire who hires a renowned eccentric filmmaker to make the greatest film ever as his legacy.
Penelope Cruz portrays the exacting director Lola Cuevas, who considers herself an artist, who deliberately casts famous film star Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and intellectual Thespian Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez) as brothers in this film within a film to see sparks fly.
Rivero, who loves the trappings of fame, is arrogant and feels turning up on set is enough as his charisma and talent will do the trick, while Torres believes in hard work, preparation, a fair wage and travels in economy.
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