Review: "Challengers"
Luca Guadagnino's latest is a masterfully stimulating technical achievement with a superb central acting trio.
As we as a cinephilic community continuously crave for films to be horny again, director Luca Guadagnino can always be relied on to bring such carnality to the big screen. His latest pic, the long-awaited Challengers, does that by portraying sports as a form of love-making, both on and off the court.
When lifelong friends, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), cross paths with fellow tennis pro, Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), all three instantly get embedded in a heated love triangle that affects both their personal and professional lives. Years after their initial encounter, with Art on a losing streak, Tashi, who serves as his wife and coach, signs him up for a Challenger tournament. Patrick, who’s experiencing career downturns of his own and is Art’s romantic rival, competing in the same tournament becomes a possible component to both Art and Tashi getting their careers back on track.
Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O’Connor star in Luca Guadagnino’s latest film “Challengers.” (Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios)
In a story told in a non-linear fashion, transitioning between the ultimate tennis match and the timeline of the rise and fall of the romantically entangled protagonists, we see how Patrick is a total agent of chaos whose friction with his opponent and former best friend may be the very thing that Art needs to become a better player. As sly and calculating as Patrick may be, one is still magnetized by him thanks to the sensual charms of the always-amazing Josh O’Connor. Meanwhile, Mike Faist impresses as the film’s almost self-flagellating moral center Art, pulling a 180 from his breakthrough turn as the villainous Riff in the 2021 film adaptation of West Side Story.
Then there’s the film’s top star, Zendaya as Tashi. Despite the tagline suggesting it’s her game and her move, the screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes ironically doesn’t give as much insight into her motivation as to why she’d have Patrick and Art act as pawns in her chess game. But Zendaya swiftly overcomes that through sheer star power. Sultry and charismatic while letting her moments of silence act as a window into Tashi’s fragile ego, Zendaya is always captivating when on screen.
Just as kinetic as the trio of central performances is Luca Guadagnino’s filmmaking. Along with the tennis match, scenes like the motel encounter, the catalyst for the central love triangle structured with frantic jump cuts of the trio hungrily eyeing each other while the camera fixates on their fidgeting bodies before they leap onto the bed together, help make the film a pulsating experience. The same can be said for the film’s other big star besides the acting stars: The throbbing electronic score by the reliable musical duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Whether it’s due to the score, the tennis playing, or even the scene with Art and Patrick angrily biting on phallic churros, Luca Guadagnino’s latest masterpiece is a never-ending adrenaline rush where one must see it on the biggest screen to get the best possible film-watching experience. It might not have extravagant fight scenes, but again, the sight of Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist eating churros may provide the same kind of immense stimulation as an action blockbuster.