MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama
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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
[IMDb]
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime
RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today
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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