Challengers
“Are we talking about tennis? We’re always talking about tennis”
I have never left a cinema where the last scene made me more tense/horny/happy than I did walking out of challengers. Good lord Guadagnino. WOW I was BLOWN AWAY. Guadagnino understands intimacy like no other working director at the moment and often the sexiness of this film comes from conversation. What is so obvious is how much he thrives in subtext, not a single scene in this film feels superfluous, all of them are necessary, and more interestingly, scenes are just presented to you, you have to pick how to feel.
It's funny I feel like drawing a comparison between this and Anyone but You, another recent film who attempted to be "sexy", far and away this is more sexually charged, and it features less physical intimacy than that movie. I think the reason this film is so provocative is because it feels real. These relationships that the triangle is going through feel lived in, we feel the yearning and tension each of them feel for each other. It's in this realism that the film becomes so damn sexy. It's not polished, it doesn't feel like big name stars falling in love, these people are grimy and complex and real, and what's more compelling than watching real love.
Guadagnino has so much control over each and every frame in the film, it's actually so stunning to witness. Challengers does not play it safe either, there's weird and bizarre - and incredible - cinematography choices, I mean we become a bloody tennis ball for goodness' sake, a really unpredictable score, a plethora of characters who make bad choices and definitely not morally righteous, he makes all of these bold choices, but everything feels so controlled. It's genuinely so impressive, and it just makes for a far more entertaining experience as you never know what is around the next corner.
Speaking of the score I really just need to gush a little more about this. I feel like the world is acutely aware of how monumental this score is considering it's become a tiktok audio and I was in a restaurant where they were playing it. It's clear the world loves this score, and rightly so. Without this score, the film would still be great, but it could have easily fallen into another sports drama, the score makes such a dramatic impact to the story and the tone of the film. It's because of this I have been debating whether or not this has been the most interesting use of a score in this century? Like maybe that's being hyperbolic, but it truly does so much for the film. Suddenly instead of breaking away from the game, the game is always continued off the court, our characters are never not at odds. I think it says a lot about Tent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who have produced some of the best scores over the last decade, that this might be their best score since The Social Network.
It's very hard to not mention the powerhouse performances. Zendaya is commanding, she plays a really complicated individual with this lived in embodiment which is just so wonderful to watch, a character who you want to sink your teeth into and learn more about. Mike Faist is wonderfully charming and smarmy, I think he's probably the easiest to dismiss on first viewing as having the least complexity because the other two are so in your face, but upon further viewing he is just as detailed, but he works more in the background. Josh O'Connor was unreal, such a brilliant and layered performance. He has a character whiplash, like the others, but there's something about seeing him as a smarmy overly confident teenager and then where he goes that is so compelling. What I find even more wonderful is how underneath him that smarmy teenager is still there and when he rekindles with who he used to be he starts to behave like he used to, it's such a good performance. I feel like you could walk out and feel so many different ways about each of the three characters and you would be valid to do so.
Initially I wasn't really walking out thinking someone was a "villain", and honestly, I still don't I think it's such a reductive way to view the film as people being either a villain or hero, the most interesting reality is that all of them are so morally grey. It's very easy to view Tashi as a villain for how she manipulates both men at different points in their lives, but I also think it's completely understandable after her injury. It's very easy to view Art as a complete villain after what he does to Tashi and Patrick, and while I think this is less excusable, I don't think it warrants him being a villain for everything that happens. Patrick is also very slimy, and I feel like is kind of set up to be more of a protagonist than the others but again I think this reduces him as he has just as much complexity as the others. I haven't stopped thinking about this film and honestly have ever changing opinions on how I read it and I think that's the sign of a masterpiece