Told in the span of 13 years from 2006 to 2019, the film explores the dynamic between three tennis players as they engage into a love triangle that would play into their personal and professional lives. The film is an unconventional genre-bending film where it plays into the intensity of the game of tennis and how the game also play into the lives of these three people who love the game. Justin Kuritzkes’ screenplay is told in a non-linear narrative where it shifts back and forth from this challengers’ match between two once-close friends in Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) who were once partners and won the boys’ junior doubles title at the U.S. Open in 2006 is where they would meet the tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan (Zendaya). The narrative takes place in 2019 where Donaldson has become a major star but has returned from injury and is on a losing streak with Tashi as both his wife and coach as she books him as a wild card for a Challenger event in New Rochelle, New York. Also, at New Rochelle there is Zweig whose career has fallen into hard times as he lives in his car and enters tournaments for money as he also takes part in the event.
Kuritzkes’ script explore the dynamic of the three where Tashi and Donaldson would both go to Stanford University in continuing their career in college with the former being slated to go pro until an injury threatened her career. Around that time, Tashi was dating Zweig who got her number after a game that Donaldson and Zweig played the year before. Yet, part of the reason into why Zweig and Tashi’s relationship had issues is due to the former’s immaturity and the latter’s own desire to be great in the game of tennis. After a few years in which Tashi and Donaldson reconnect with the latter asking the former to coach him, she finds a new lease on life, yet the presence of Zweig still looms. It all would be inter-cut with these images from what is happening at New Rochelle where there is a lot at stake in this match between Zweig and Donaldson for both.
Luca Guadagnino’s direction is stylish in the way he presents the game but also the period of 13 years in the life of these three people. Shot on location in Boston and areas near the city including some of its tennis stadiums, Guadagnino creates a world where these characters are driven by a game that requires a lot of skill, timing, strength, and mental capabilities. Guadagnino’s usage of wide and medium shots play into the length of a tennis court and the places the characters go to with the latter also appearing for intimate scenes involving the protagonists as they interact with one another. Most notably a scene in 2006 where Zweig, Donaldson, and Tashi are all talking and later engage into a threesome that highlights a lot of emotions that occur as it would also mark a change in the relationship between Zweig and Donaldson who knew each other in boarding school since they were 12. Guadagnino’s compositions do play into sexual tension among all three protagonists as well as this sense of competition that does play like a mental tennis match.
Guadagnino also create some unique set pieces such as a meeting late in the film between Zweig and Tashi on a late and windy night that plays into a lot of the emotional chaos that is happening. Even as it leads to this match that Zweig and Donaldson are to play where the match itself has Guadagnino create some unique compositions. Notably in a point-of-view shot from their perspective as they hit the ball with their rackets as well as other stylish shots that only adds to the intensity of the game. Guadagnino also plays into Tashi’s perspective as she is seen sitting in the middle where she would look at one of the men at times and sometimes at the middle. The final set for the match point is where everything comes into play as it is about the game and who wants to win it. Overall, Guadagnino crafts an exhilarating and riveting film about a love triangle between three players that come to ahead at a Challenger tennis tournament match.
Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom does amazing work with the film’s cinematography in the way many of the daytime exterior scenes are shot as well as the scenes set at night including some of the interior scenes in the hotel suites that Tashi and Donaldson stay at. Editor Marco Costa does brilliant work with the editing where it has a lot of style in its rhythmic cutting and jump-cuts to play into the intensity of the tennis game as well as in the dramatic moments as it is a highlight of the film. Production designer Merissa Lombardo, along with set decorator Jess Royal plus art directors Paul Alix, Jasmine Cho, and Matthew Gatlin, does excellent work with the look of the hotel rooms and hotel suites the characters stay in as well as a few places at the tennis club where the Challengers game happens. Costume designer J.W. Anderson does fantastic work with the costumes where some of it is stylish in some of the posh clothing that Tashi would wear as well as the clothes the men wear in the different years of their lives.
Hair designer Massimo Gattabrusi and makeup designer Fernanda Perez, along with prosthetics designer Howard Berger, do nice work with the look of the characters in the youthful and shaggy look of Donaldson early in the film that would later become Zweig’s look later along with the hairstyles that Tashi would have as she gets older. Special effects supervisor John Ruggeri, along with visual effects supervisors Brian Drewes, Harut Harutyunyan, and Riza Patel, does terrific work with the visual effects as it relates to some of the tennis scenes including the climatic game in the film. Sound designer Paul Carter and sound editor Craig Berkey do superb work with the sound in how a ball sounds when it hits a tennis racket as well as the atmosphere of a tennis stadium where is a lot of detail that is captured in the sound.
The film’s music by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross is phenomenal for its pulsating and hypnotic electronic-based score that include themes that play into the characters as well as the games that occur in the film while music supervisor Robin Urdang compiles a music soundtrack that features music from Nelly, David Bowie, Spoon, Fine Young Cannibals, Devonte Hynes, Lily Allen, Blu Cantrell, Bruce Springsteen, Benjamin Britten, Patty Pravo, Caetano Veloso, Extreme Music, and some classical pieces that add to drama in the film.
The casting by Francine Maisler is wonderful as it feature some notable small roles and appearances from Burgess Byrd as a USTA official who was also a line judge at earlier Zweig/Donaldson match, Nada Despototvich as Tashi’s mother who often watches her granddaughter, Naheem Garcia as Tashi’s father in the 2006 scenes, Darnell Appling as the umpire for the Challengers game between Zweig & Donaldson, A.J. Lister as Tashi and Donaldson’s daughter Lily, and Hailey Gates as a blind date that Zweig meets in New Rochelle at the hotel where Tashi and Donaldson were staying at. Mike Faist is marvelous as Art Donaldson as a reserved young man who would be more of a friend to Tashi and later her husband where he deals with recovering from his own injury and a losing streak where he becomes unsure if he wants to continue.
Josh O’Connor is remarkable as Patrick Zweig as the more arrogant of the two men as he is skilled in the game, but he is also immature when it comes to emotions where he would deal with living in his car and barely making money while also having feelings for Tashi. Finally, there is Zendaya in a tremendous performance as Tashi Duncan as a former tennis prodigy turned coach who has a love for the game as well as a better understanding of it in terms of chemistry, emotion, and strategy. Zendaya’s performance is also filled with a lot of grit as well as a sensuality that makes her appealing for the men to be entranced to as she also has amazing chemistry with both O’Connor and Faist as it is one of her finest performances to date.
Challengers is a sensational film by Luca Guadagnino that features great performances from Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist. Along with Justin Kuritzkes’ compelling script, gorgeous visuals, its mixture of sports and drama, and a phenomenal music score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The film is a fascinating and ravishing film that is both a unique study of the sport of tennis as well as the people who play the game as they are caught in a chaotic love triangle. In the end, Challengers is a spectacular film by Luca Guadagnino.
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Luca Guadagnino Films: (The Protagonists) - (Tilda Swinton: The Love Factory) - (Mundo civilzado) - (Cuoco contadino) - (Melissa P.) - (The Love Factory No. 3 Pippo Delbono - Bisogna morire) – I Am Love - (Bertolucci on Bertolucci) – A Bigger Splash - Call Me By Your Name - Suspiria - The Staggering Girl - (Fiori, Fiori, Fiori) – (Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams) – (We Are Who We Are (2020 TV series)) – Bones and All - (Queer) - (After the Hunt)
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2 comments:
I'm still offended that the score and editing were not Oscar nominated. Egregious.
I agree. I really liked the editing in that film and that music score I think is one of NIN's best scores.
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