May 21, 2024
FILM: CHALLENGERS
DIRECTED BY: LUCA GUADAGNINO
STARRING: ZENDAYA, MIKE FAIST, JOSH O’CONNOR
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Challengers was originally supposed to be released last summer but got pushed to this Spring for perhaps a couple of reasons: the actors were on strike and some might have thought the film just wasn’t as good as the others about to embark on an Oscar run during the Fall festival season. Yet, when released in April the film hit number one at the U.S. box office and has now made over $78,000,000 world-wide. That’s pretty impressive for what is essentially a love triangle set in the world of tennis. It’s now available to stream on Amazon Prime.
The lure of this film is in part its young and attractive cast: Zendaya (Euphoria, Dune), Mike Faist (West Side Story), and Josh O’Connor (The Crown, La Chimera.) We first meet their characters at a tennis match in 2019. Tashi (Zendaya) sits watching the two men compete in a battle that will stretch throughout the narrative until the film’s very elongated, final scene. Interspersed are flashbacks to when Art (Faist) and Patrick (O’Connor) are 19 years old and they first meet the very beautiful Tashi. What develops is a much-touted love triangle between the three of them. There’s been a lot of discussion about the steamy first encounter they have and it is pretty hot (although not nearly as explicit as one might think.) Both men seem to desire Tashi who in turn seems interested in both of them. The bond between Art and Patrick is intense, playful, and flirtatious. At one point Tashi says she doesn’t want to be a “homewrecker.” Hmm…
The narrative then jumps around, back and forth in time, providing viewers with scenes of the guys’ involvements with Tashi. She is definitely at the center of their world. She’s tough, fierce, and as a tennis player herself, a coach. Thirteen years later, when the aforementioned match occurs, she’s even more harsh, desperate, and seemingly in charge of the men who have experienced a break in their friendship.
There isn’t much beyond the love triangle here. Some of the logistics of tennis are a bit glossed over and not very clear. As such, this is a pretty thin narrative which may explain its wide appeal: There’s not a lot to figure out here except for who might end up with who.
It’s hard for me to watch this and not think of two other more superior films that deal with the “match” between: 1) two opposing but intimately linked characters and 2) a love triangle. The former calls to mind Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 classic Strangers on a Train in which a tennis player (Farley Granger) meets a sociopathic and flirtatious man (Robert Walker) on a train. The characters become at odds with each other when a murder is committed by one of them. Their struggles against each other resemble the tennis match played near the end of that film as well as Challengers. It’s a constant back and forth of power. Alfonso Cuaron’s 2001 film Y tu Mama Tambien pits best friends (Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna) against each other when an older woman (Maribel Verdu) tags along on a trip through Mexico. Similar tensions between both men escalate due to the presence and physical intimacies they experience with this woman. Both of the films suggest a fight for male dominance over some pretty strong women in their lives. Yet, in the end it may be their own struggles with their feelings for each other that creates even greater strain and separation.
Challengers echoes elements of each of these films right up to the end. Hitchcock’s film is a technical marvel while Cuaron’s is a rich dialogue driven, Oscar-nominated character study. Guadgnino’s film doesn’t quite reach Cuaron’s level of screenplay success but he does attempt some of his own interesting technical achievements and missteps. Challengers is filled with a pretty strong techno music score by Oscar-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross which keeps the energy fresh and youthful, if sounding a bit like Tom Tykwer’s 1999 German classic, Run Lola Run.
Guadagnino also creates some pretty intricate and original camera movements and perspectives during the climactic tennis match. This is mostly effective if a bit disorienting at times. The biggest misstep though is the over use of slow motion in that final scene. It drags out the film by at least ten minutes. There’s also a pretty improbable windstorm that mysteriously sweeps up paper and debris coming from who knows where during one of the film’s more intense fight scenes.
There’s no denying the work of the actors though. Zendaya easily captures the playfulness of Tashi in her younger days while mastering the effects of the tough changes in her life and career in the narrative’s latter stages. While she’s forced to sit a bit angrily through the final scene her performance definitely has internalized the character’s struggles and disappointments. Faist and O’Connor are also very good at depicting the youthful spirit of their college years as well as their later intense scenes with Zendaya and while on the tennis court.
Parts of the film are sexy, while others feel a bit repetitive. The story is lacking in some substance but the actors are worth seeing. I think Guadagnino could have gone a bit further here to really illustrate what a relationship like this between three people could be. Don’t hold your breath for it, but perhaps a sequel might accomplish something like that.
Challengers is currently playing in theaters and available to rent on Amazon Prime.
FILM: CHALLENGERS
DIRECTED BY: LUCA GUADAGNINO
STARRING: ZENDAYA, MIKE FAIST, JOSH O’CONNOR
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Challengers was originally supposed to be released last summer but got pushed to this Spring for perhaps a couple of reasons: the actors were on strike and some might have thought the film just wasn’t as good as the others about to embark on an Oscar run during the Fall festival season. Yet, when released in April the film hit number one at the U.S. box office and has now made over $78,000,000 world-wide. That’s pretty impressive for what is essentially a love triangle set in the world of tennis. It’s now available to stream on Amazon Prime.
The lure of this film is in part its young and attractive cast: Zendaya (Euphoria, Dune), Mike Faist (West Side Story), and Josh O’Connor (The Crown, La Chimera.) We first meet their characters at a tennis match in 2019. Tashi (Zendaya) sits watching the two men compete in a battle that will stretch throughout the narrative until the film’s very elongated, final scene. Interspersed are flashbacks to when Art (Faist) and Patrick (O’Connor) are 19 years old and they first meet the very beautiful Tashi. What develops is a much-touted love triangle between the three of them. There’s been a lot of discussion about the steamy first encounter they have and it is pretty hot (although not nearly as explicit as one might think.) Both men seem to desire Tashi who in turn seems interested in both of them. The bond between Art and Patrick is intense, playful, and flirtatious. At one point Tashi says she doesn’t want to be a “homewrecker.” Hmm…
The narrative then jumps around, back and forth in time, providing viewers with scenes of the guys’ involvements with Tashi. She is definitely at the center of their world. She’s tough, fierce, and as a tennis player herself, a coach. Thirteen years later, when the aforementioned match occurs, she’s even more harsh, desperate, and seemingly in charge of the men who have experienced a break in their friendship.
There isn’t much beyond the love triangle here. Some of the logistics of tennis are a bit glossed over and not very clear. As such, this is a pretty thin narrative which may explain its wide appeal: There’s not a lot to figure out here except for who might end up with who.
It’s hard for me to watch this and not think of two other more superior films that deal with the “match” between: 1) two opposing but intimately linked characters and 2) a love triangle. The former calls to mind Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 classic Strangers on a Train in which a tennis player (Farley Granger) meets a sociopathic and flirtatious man (Robert Walker) on a train. The characters become at odds with each other when a murder is committed by one of them. Their struggles against each other resemble the tennis match played near the end of that film as well as Challengers. It’s a constant back and forth of power. Alfonso Cuaron’s 2001 film Y tu Mama Tambien pits best friends (Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna) against each other when an older woman (Maribel Verdu) tags along on a trip through Mexico. Similar tensions between both men escalate due to the presence and physical intimacies they experience with this woman. Both of the films suggest a fight for male dominance over some pretty strong women in their lives. Yet, in the end it may be their own struggles with their feelings for each other that creates even greater strain and separation.
Challengers echoes elements of each of these films right up to the end. Hitchcock’s film is a technical marvel while Cuaron’s is a rich dialogue driven, Oscar-nominated character study. Guadgnino’s film doesn’t quite reach Cuaron’s level of screenplay success but he does attempt some of his own interesting technical achievements and missteps. Challengers is filled with a pretty strong techno music score by Oscar-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross which keeps the energy fresh and youthful, if sounding a bit like Tom Tykwer’s 1999 German classic, Run Lola Run.
Guadagnino also creates some pretty intricate and original camera movements and perspectives during the climactic tennis match. This is mostly effective if a bit disorienting at times. The biggest misstep though is the over use of slow motion in that final scene. It drags out the film by at least ten minutes. There’s also a pretty improbable windstorm that mysteriously sweeps up paper and debris coming from who knows where during one of the film’s more intense fight scenes.
There’s no denying the work of the actors though. Zendaya easily captures the playfulness of Tashi in her younger days while mastering the effects of the tough changes in her life and career in the narrative’s latter stages. While she’s forced to sit a bit angrily through the final scene her performance definitely has internalized the character’s struggles and disappointments. Faist and O’Connor are also very good at depicting the youthful spirit of their college years as well as their later intense scenes with Zendaya and while on the tennis court.
Parts of the film are sexy, while others feel a bit repetitive. The story is lacking in some substance but the actors are worth seeing. I think Guadagnino could have gone a bit further here to really illustrate what a relationship like this between three people could be. Don’t hold your breath for it, but perhaps a sequel might accomplish something like that.
Challengers is currently playing in theaters and available to rent on Amazon Prime.