A Cinematic Ace with Career-Best Performances

Posted in: Kaitlyn Booth, MGM, Movies, Review | Tagged: Challengers, Luca Guadagnino

Challengers is a sports film is rarely about the sport itself alone, and this film is only “about” tennis in the barest sense. It’s about three people and the extremely complicated relationship dynamics that play out over the years that they know each other.

Challengers is a beautiful exploration of relationship dynamics put on screen by one of the best directors and three actors putting in career-best work across the board.

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Summary: Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach, is married to a champion on a losing streak. Her strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.

Sports movies are rarely just about the sports themselves. Whether they are using a sport to explore the themes of race or sexism or how to make an unfair system work for you, if you’re worried that a sports movie will be about a sport, you probably have nothing to worry about. Challengers is a tennis movie in many ways, where tennis is the structure around which the rest of the film is built. So those who are worried that you might not enjoy this film because you don’t enjoy tennis don’t need to worry. If anything, director Luca Guadagnino, with the masterful soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, frames the matches as intricate dances set to music that sounds like it wouldn’t feel out of place in a club. It’s less about the sport and more about watching the movement of these people.

The movement and how all three main characters interact with each other is the throughline of the entire film. Challengers decides to tell the story in a non-linear fashion, with most of the story being framed about the challenger match between Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) as Tashi (Zendaya) watches from the sidelines. The game moves forward, set by set, as we jump around in the timeline of these characters. Most of the time, when someone decides to tell a story non-linearly, it messes up the structure and pacing, and they rarely find a way to combat it. However, framing the match and everything happening in hours, days, and years before it takes place helps keep the story moving forward and never meanders. You’re captivated, you can’t look away, and even though the film is over two hours, it doesn’t drag, and you don’t feel that runtime.

All three of the leads are putting in career-best work, but Zendaya is captivating every single time she is on screen. You can see why both Art and Patrick are so drawn to her, why they can’t seem to escape her orbit, and why they aren’t inclined to. Tashi is a woman with so many layers from the moment we meet her off the tennis court. It’s clear that whatever Art and Patrick thought she was going to be, she took them by surprise and spent the rest of the film taking them by surprise in so many ways. She commands a room with a look; every move feels calculated and meticulous but not malicious.

Faist and O’Connor are working hard to ensure they aren’t entirely overshadowed by Zendaya, and they pull it off for the most part. People will probably say that O’Connor has the harder role of the two because Patrick is the “flashier” role in several ways. He does a great job of making sure that while Patrick is highly flawed in a bunch of different ways and we might not even like him, there is still some little voice in the back of your head that might want him to win the match as it goes on throughout the film. It seems like Faist might be the one that gets lost in the bigger performances of his co-stars, but he gives Art actual dimension, and while he is more subtle for most of the film, when we get to see him really cut loose, it’s great.

Guadagnino’s films are very much not for everyone. Two years ago, he brought cannibal YA romance to the big screen with Bones and All; his Suspiria remake has a scene with the mirrors that lives rent-free in my head for the rest of my life [thanks for that, Luca], and while Call Me By Your Name shouldn’t be labeled as something that isn’t “mainstream,” it unfortunately was, because that is the world we live in. Challengers might be his most “mainstream” film in terms of audience appeal. In the months leading up to this, we were wondering if this really was what it appeared to be or if there was something else going on that the trailers weren’t showing, but not really. Challengers is a film about relationships that uses a lot of tennis a plot and framing device. This isn’t trying to trick you into seeing something else, and the film is very honest, right up front, regarding what it is and what it is about.

Challengers is a film that will be beloved by those willing to take a chance on something they might not be interested in initially. A sports film is rarely about the sport itself alone, and this film is only “about” tennis in the barest sense. It’s about three people and the extremely complicated relationship dynamics that play out over the years that they know each other. While there might be some little things here and there to nitpick, at the end of the day, you’re captivated watching these three people move around each other. You want to know how this will look for Tashi, Art, and Patrick when the final serve is thrown and the game ends. You’re utterly invested, and nothing is better than being utterly taken aback by a film in every way.

Challengers

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Review by Kaitlyn Booth

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9.5/10

Challengers is a beautiful exploration of relationship dynamics put on screen by one of the best directors and three actors putting in career-best work across the board. 

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