Official competition (Competencia oficial - 2021)

I loved this farce about movie making in Spain, with Penelope Cruz as an intense director and Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez as egotistical stars, with magnificent cinematography, sets, and locations. Jose Luis Gomez plays the egotistical financier who appears first in the movie, but, contrary to what I learned in film school, it is not that character's story. 

Co-directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat wrote the script with Gastón's brother Andrés Duprat. They and Martinez are Argentinian and there's a joke about an Argentinian accent late in the movie.

Cruz' brother Eduardo Cruz's soundtrack doesn't seem to be available to stream online and, in the two weeks since I watched this I've forgotten specifics.

But I remember distinctly (okay, I made a note while I watched--one of the advantages of streaming at home) the gorgeous photography by Arnau Valls Colomer, with beautifully composed wide shots, mirrors, and more. And a shout out to the hair department (too many to name) for Cruz' massive tangle of pumpkin colored tresses.

Penelope Cruz was last blogged for Parallel Mothers and Banderas for Pain & Glory, I may not have written about Martinez yet but I saw him in Wild Tales and he is an accomplished actor. Gomez was in, among many, Broken Embraces and The Skin I Live In, but also not blogged until today. Cohn and the Duprats are new to me but have a number of movie and TV credits, mostly together. This is Eduardo Cruz' third of four features and Colomer is a much-nominated and award-winning cinematographer with dozens of projects in his resume.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics officially sanction this movie, averaging 96% and its audiences are close behind at 83. I rented it on September 3 on Apple TV.