Challengers (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
Phewww. By the time Luca Guadagnino's erotically-charged romantic triangle tennis film 'Challengers' reaches its sweaty, pulse-pounding climax, you may be scrounging around looking for a cigarette. It is rare for a movie to be as sensatory & captivating as this one manages to be - and, really, without much sex in it, at all. Cinematic elements of direction, writing, editing, cinematography, music & performance meld to create a feverish fusion of lust, rage, & passion. Among other things, 'Challengers' is a film about bodies: athletic, sexy bodies at rest & in motion. The camera loves these actors.
During a hard-fought match at New Rochelle's Challenger tournament {right before the US Open} in 2019, the two male players on court & the one woman of focus spectating on the sidelines communicate with their bodies: searing glances, miniscule gestures, gasps & grunts - all expressing things left unsaid btwn. them. The woman is Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), wife & watchful coach of one of male players, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), & the other player, Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor), is Art's ex-friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend. Art is the 6-time grand slam champ in a slump; a honed, sculpted, but physically & mentally battered player desperate for one last push to win the US Open. Patrick is the prodigy who never 'made it'; a grungy, chain-smoking has-been sleeping in his car who is hell bent on getting back in the game before he's too old. Over the course of this match, the film flashes back in time as we come to understand the fiery, complex relationship btwn. this trio.
But before this climactic 2019 challenger match concludes, we travel back to the beginning. The film the shifts back to the 2006 US Open where teen friends & doubles partners Art & Patrick have just won the junior doubles title. Both are enamored with the hot, young tennis phenom Tashi Duncan, who shocks them by agreeing to meet them in their hotel room -- cue the film's most eye-popping bed scene; where an intense stretch of foreplay concludes in a carnal kissing escapade where Tashi & Art, Tashi & Patrick, and even Art & Patrick get carried away to a sensual place. But the boys' moment of passion goes unaddressed as they focus on who Tashi may choose. She is equally drawn to them & senses that they have a stronger - and until now, dormant - bond than they are willing to concede.
Tashi initially falls for Patrick. But when her budding career ends by way of a knee injury {she is devastated}, devoted Art comes to her rescue, whereas bad-boy Patrick disappears. Years later, Tashi & Art marry and have a child. Throughout all of this, the relentlessly professional Tashi seems to get-off on psychologically & sexually controlling these guys. Art's marriage is one of surrender to her every wish as an act of love & devotion. All the while, Tashi tries to resist the temptation of Patrick's destructive flame ... and Patrick knows the power he has over her. In the end, it all comes down to this: they each just want what they want. And so, jealousy, ego & Tashi's manipulations cloud the climactic - and also metaphorical - tennis match; which ends in a proverbially orgasmic flurry of movement & emotion.
Intriguing & clever as the script can be, it is Guadagnino's filmmaking that elevates the material to unparalleled heights. The movie is shot with crisp, extravagant clarity by cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, whose camera captures some scintillating tennis sequences, as well as moments both grand & infinitesimal btwn. the characters -- each frame brims with vitality & verve. Editor Marco Costa cuts & formulates said tennis sequences with the precision of a Roger Federer. And the throbbing techno music score by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross is as propulsive & sexy as the story at hand.
Zendaya's Tashi is beguiling, effervescent, but then vulnerable, damaged & even conniving by the time years passed after her devastating injury. With tennis taken away from her, she lives vicariously through the guy who has the talent, but lacking the passion; meanwhile, the other guy has the passion, but lacks stability. She's waited so long to FEEL passion and, well, due to her manipulation in pulling on their heartstrings, she ignites the fire in both of them during the 2019 tennis battle. In a way, said match is the culmination of the threesome teased in their initial hotel meeting. Although Zendaya's character isn't as fleshed-out as it could have been, I still found her an enticingly mysterious, complex woman to try to figure out.
Mike Faist is one smooth customer on & off the court -- the camera captures his every angle with allurement. And he plays Art with great vulnerability; which makes him susceptible to rejection, envy, & brittle disappointment {which transfers all-too-easily from his personal life into his tennis}. In stark contrast, Josh O'Connor embodies the kind of shady, infuriating, but also irresistible 'bad guy' sexuality that someone like Tashi could easily fall for. To that, it's easy to see how all 3 of these characters can fall prey to each other's charisma, magnetism & sexual energy. 'Challengers' is the kind of sexy, engrossing, twisted romance that we don't see enough of these days. And thanks to the ever-present sexual tension btwn. these three, it's easy to see how cutthroat gamesmanship isn't just relegated to a tennis court.
During a hard-fought match at New Rochelle's Challenger tournament {right before the US Open} in 2019, the two male players on court & the one woman of focus spectating on the sidelines communicate with their bodies: searing glances, miniscule gestures, gasps & grunts - all expressing things left unsaid btwn. them. The woman is Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), wife & watchful coach of one of male players, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), & the other player, Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor), is Art's ex-friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend. Art is the 6-time grand slam champ in a slump; a honed, sculpted, but physically & mentally battered player desperate for one last push to win the US Open. Patrick is the prodigy who never 'made it'; a grungy, chain-smoking has-been sleeping in his car who is hell bent on getting back in the game before he's too old. Over the course of this match, the film flashes back in time as we come to understand the fiery, complex relationship btwn. this trio.
But before this climactic 2019 challenger match concludes, we travel back to the beginning. The film the shifts back to the 2006 US Open where teen friends & doubles partners Art & Patrick have just won the junior doubles title. Both are enamored with the hot, young tennis phenom Tashi Duncan, who shocks them by agreeing to meet them in their hotel room -- cue the film's most eye-popping bed scene; where an intense stretch of foreplay concludes in a carnal kissing escapade where Tashi & Art, Tashi & Patrick, and even Art & Patrick get carried away to a sensual place. But the boys' moment of passion goes unaddressed as they focus on who Tashi may choose. She is equally drawn to them & senses that they have a stronger - and until now, dormant - bond than they are willing to concede.
Tashi initially falls for Patrick. But when her budding career ends by way of a knee injury {she is devastated}, devoted Art comes to her rescue, whereas bad-boy Patrick disappears. Years later, Tashi & Art marry and have a child. Throughout all of this, the relentlessly professional Tashi seems to get-off on psychologically & sexually controlling these guys. Art's marriage is one of surrender to her every wish as an act of love & devotion. All the while, Tashi tries to resist the temptation of Patrick's destructive flame ... and Patrick knows the power he has over her. In the end, it all comes down to this: they each just want what they want. And so, jealousy, ego & Tashi's manipulations cloud the climactic - and also metaphorical - tennis match; which ends in a proverbially orgasmic flurry of movement & emotion.
Intriguing & clever as the script can be, it is Guadagnino's filmmaking that elevates the material to unparalleled heights. The movie is shot with crisp, extravagant clarity by cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, whose camera captures some scintillating tennis sequences, as well as moments both grand & infinitesimal btwn. the characters -- each frame brims with vitality & verve. Editor Marco Costa cuts & formulates said tennis sequences with the precision of a Roger Federer. And the throbbing techno music score by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross is as propulsive & sexy as the story at hand.
Zendaya's Tashi is beguiling, effervescent, but then vulnerable, damaged & even conniving by the time years passed after her devastating injury. With tennis taken away from her, she lives vicariously through the guy who has the talent, but lacking the passion; meanwhile, the other guy has the passion, but lacks stability. She's waited so long to FEEL passion and, well, due to her manipulation in pulling on their heartstrings, she ignites the fire in both of them during the 2019 tennis battle. In a way, said match is the culmination of the threesome teased in their initial hotel meeting. Although Zendaya's character isn't as fleshed-out as it could have been, I still found her an enticingly mysterious, complex woman to try to figure out.
Mike Faist is one smooth customer on & off the court -- the camera captures his every angle with allurement. And he plays Art with great vulnerability; which makes him susceptible to rejection, envy, & brittle disappointment {which transfers all-too-easily from his personal life into his tennis}. In stark contrast, Josh O'Connor embodies the kind of shady, infuriating, but also irresistible 'bad guy' sexuality that someone like Tashi could easily fall for. To that, it's easy to see how all 3 of these characters can fall prey to each other's charisma, magnetism & sexual energy. 'Challengers' is the kind of sexy, engrossing, twisted romance that we don't see enough of these days. And thanks to the ever-present sexual tension btwn. these three, it's easy to see how cutthroat gamesmanship isn't just relegated to a tennis court.