Always Good Movies

Direction: Halina Reijn
Country: USA

Babygirl, an erotic psychological drama written, directed and produced by actress turned director Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies, 2022), feels pedestrian and unexciting. The film follows Rory Mathis (Nicole Kidman), a powerful CEO of a New York robotics company specialized in logistics innovation. Frustrated by the lack of sexual stimulation in her marriage to filmmaker Jacob (Antonio Banderas), Rory embarks on an illicit affair with her much younger intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), who seems uncannily attuned to her desires. As their relationship deepens, Rory's vulnerability takes over, leading to chaos and loss of control.

Babygirl vacillates in a sexual game, which, not being new, can be fetishistically real. However, the story winds down as it develops, being pushed into ridiculousness in its final segment and ultimately failing to create a positive impact. Reijn seems uncertain about the film’s direction—wavering between drama, thriller, eroticism, and the bizarre—while her characters remain similarly unsure of whether they seek dominance or submission.

Visually, the film offers little of note aside from a vividly trippy nightclub scene. The poorly crafted dialogue and inconsequential details further cloud a story already plagued by repetition and artificiality. Performances are uneven: Kidman commands the screen with intensity, Banderas delivers a weak and often laughable portrayal, and Dickinson strikes an awkward middle ground, exuding misplaced confidence without leaving a lasting impact.

Despite its provocative premise, Babygirl never delivers the emotional payoff it seems to promise, leaving viewers waiting in vain for something truly gripping or transformative.

Direction: Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn
Country: Spain / Argentina

The pair of Argentinean directors, Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, made ten films together, with the heavily awarded The Distinguished Citizen (2016) as a standout. Their newest work, Official Competition, is a satirical spoof structured around the rehearsals for the shooting of a film financed by a bored stiff billionaire businessman.

Even if not always surprising, and playing a bit too long for my taste, the film revealed to be more engaging than I was expecting. A very confident Penelope Cruz appears in top form as a lesbian avant-garde director who knows what she wants. Her investment in the film is matched by Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez, who play talented awarded actors with huge egos and different levels of ambition.

The film delves into complex relationships in cinema, usually hidden from the public, as they happen behind the scenes. And because we have fine experienced actors playing actors and directors, the whole thing makes even more sense, and some truth lurks from behind the wild and funny absurdity of the scenes.

The directors, borrowing the minimalist scenarios of Lars Von Trier’s Dogville and Manderlay for a bit, openly address rivalries, hypocrisy, banalities, and occasionally improper behavior during the process of an artistic creation. This Competition is a pitch-perfect joke that, at times, breaks up the vibes with unevenly inspired sketches. However, it never runs totally out of steam.