The Competition (Spain/Andorra)  

A vein of dark culture-work observation runs through this vérité doc about a contest to build a new museum in Andorra, high in the Spanish Pyrenees.

The architectural rivals are five biggies, although it’s clear that most of the “imagineering” is done by midlevel assistants who’ll get none of the glory no matter who wins. Frank Gehry, as you might imagine, is a whimsical pixie, while Jean Nouvel is the ultimate asshole boss.

It’s all vaguely amusing, but how can any film about an aesthetic process look this crappy? Underlit, colourless, and full of hand-held locutions that are basically where documentaries were 30 years ago, The Competition fails.