The weight on the head «to increase the dramatic tension»… The cine-comedy of the Argentine absurd “Surprise ending. Official Competition ”, with this magical trio: Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz and Oscar Martinez. Really not to be missed: read why …
Don’t miss out Surprise ending, the film with Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz for the first time co-stars together in a film. Surprise ending is comic, satirical, bitter. Funny, intelligent, “metatextual”. And again, absurd, rhythmic and with very tight dialogues …
The first time of Banderas and Penelope Cruz
Pedro Almodovar’s two favorite actors, so far, had only crossed paths for a few minutes and very few scenes. At the beginning of Passenger lovers. And in a scene from Pain and glory. Both by the Spanish director. He wanted us Surprise ending to see them really co-stars.
Penelope Cruz (47) and Antonio Banderas (61) on the red carpet of the film, at the Venice Film Festival 2021. Photo Getty
By the directors of The Illustrious Citizen
Finally comes out in Italy Surprise ending – Official Competition from Mariano Cohn And Gastón Duprat. The directors of the sensational The illustrious citizen. It tells the world of entertainment and the creative process, through the story of two famous actors and a director engaged in the preparation of a film… With three sensational protagonists. Pénelope Cruz And Antonio Banderas. And the Argentine Oscar Martínez
Presented in competition at the last Venice Film Festival, it was the most loved film by critics and audiences on the Lido. Surely, the one that made us laugh the most. Don’t miss it on the big screen!
Penelope Cruz (47 years old) and Antonio Banderas (61) at the Venice Film Festival 2021, at the photo call of ”Surprise ending. Official Competition “. Photo getty
Surprise ending: the new Italian trailer of the film with Penelope Cruz
Surprise ending film: plot and cast
On his 80th birthday, Fr Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez), a well-known multi-million dollar Spanish entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry, is troubled and dissatisfied. He too much wealth and no prestige. Man is convinced that he must leave something to the “community”, to be remembered and finally, perhaps, loved. A bridge designed by a famous architect? Or a great movie?
Suárez will opt for the financing of a certain cinematic “masterpiece”. A work based on a Nobel Prize-winning novel directed by the festival director Lola Cuevas (Pénelope Cruz), winner in Cannes and Venice. The protagonists? Two differently famous actors. Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas), a beautiful Spanish star known and loved all over the world, especially in Hollywood. And the Argentine Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez), a committed theater actor, appreciated by critics and the Academy of Arts.
The three find themselves rehearsing and re-rehearsing the whole script of the eccentric Lola. In a conflict between Egos, perhaps incurable. Between rivalry, spite and misunderstanding, will the stars be able to complete the film?
Surprise ending, review: a “triello” of Ego and various absurdities
Perfect comic tempos and effective satire on the creativity and idiosyncrasies of the “artists” of cine. Iconoclasm towards certain auteur cinema. Mirror of absurd vanity and abysmal emptiness.
Surprise ending it tells the golden world of entertainment in a desecrating and powerful way, through the story of two famous actors and an “avant-garde” director with a slap-up hairstyle. The three dedicate themselves to the preparation of the film – with the emblematic title – Rivalry.
The history of cinema is full of films about “making cinema” and “film within a film”. Suffice it to recall masterpieces such as 8 and ½ And Rome by Fellini o Night effect by Truffaut. The cinema has less often told the creative phase that is at the origin of a film.
Mariano Cohn And Gastón Dupratformer co-authors of the memorable The illustrious citizen (2016), direct a comedy that imagines just that. They do it through a “triello” between strong, umbilical and different personalities. A constant and continuous fight. In a crescendo of spite, misunderstanding, dislike, up to pure hatred …
Surprise ending scratches all the tics of (alleged) artists or popular stars. From the “method” to enter the character (absurd primordial screams) to laziness, from the lack of commitment and frivolity (Félix) to the excess of commitment (Iván). From arriving late on the set to demonstrate one’s “superiority” to total superficiality (the only manifestation of Félix’s “commitment” is to make a story on Instagram in support of the pink dolphin …).
The scenographies (by Alain Bainée) are also beautiful. The film was shot in part in the Teatro Auditorio in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, forty-nine kilometers from Madrid.
Three of aces: Cruz, Banderas, Martinez
Three protagonists in a state of grace., Pénelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas And Oscar Martínez. In a feat without a winner… Appearance of Nagore Aranburu, wife of former football player, now coach, Xabi Alonso. She plays Julia.
Suárez’s niece, Diana, is instead interpreted – with the right amount of recklessness and malice – by the young Irene Escolar (known in Argentina for the tv series Isabel).
The original title: Competencia Official
The original title of the film Surprise ending – Official Competition it’s simply Competencia official. That is to say Official competition. In the three main characters, there are differing beliefs about prizes and competitions. All three are actually extremely competitive, pompous, self-reported, each in their own way …
Cult scene: Threatening the Ego
(Spoiler alert!)
Surprise ending – Official Competition has a real sequel of cult scenes and situations. From the sequence with the five-ton stone suspended over the two actors “to increase their dramatic tension»To that of the” kiss test “(in the trailer). Difficult to choose just one.
For us, however, the most powerful is the one in which Lulu asks her actors to bring to the rehearsal, in an auditorium, all the awards they have won in their careers. She then she ties the two men together in the armchair with kilos and kilos of cellophane all over their bodies, right up to their mouths. Finally, Lulu takes the stage with a huge garbage disposal.
It seems intent on destroying all their cinematic trophies… Will she really do it? You will find out in the dining room! The message is clear: for the new film to be truly a work of art, every personalism must be put aside, every triumph of the forgotten past. The watchword according to Lulu is “rebirth”. But also “insane madness”, perhaps, captures everything well …
Receive an award for refusing it
“I don’t believe in the art of entertainment as a contest, competition, competition to win something … or a prize … so I came here to take this prize to refuse it …“.
Speaking is Iván Torres (amazing Oscar Martínez). Engaged actor, engage, he has never “sold out” to Hollywood unlike stage partner Félix (Banderas). Iván recites these words in front of the mirror in his dressing room, imagining that he has won an Oscar with the film he is about to make. It is so “anti-system” that he would reject it. But he is at the same time so narcissistic that he would go all the way to the Dolby Theater, LA, USA, to publicly say that he does not accept the award …
In a very short scene there is already the whole essence of the new film by Cohn and Duprat. Focus on the childishness, whims and contradictions of three personalities from the world of entertainment. Two actors and a “committed” director (she won a Golden Lion for directing and a Palme d’Or…). Surprise ending miraculously manages to tell (allegedly) creativity, spite and idiosyncrasies of the world of cinema. He makes you laugh, think and doubt …
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