Challengers Movie Review
When considering the three characters at the center of Luca Guadagnino’s fascinating and intoxicating new film Challengers, it’s hard to know where to start. My mind keeps returning to Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), the complicated tennis phenom who weaves labyrinthine webs around herself almost as second nature. For large stretches of the film, she’s solemn and demure, but we see the rage simmering under the surface. She was destined to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, but it was all stolen from her by a cruel twist of fate which nixed her chances of a professional tennis career. Now, her dreams are lived out vicariously through her husband Art (Mike Faist), a very accomplished tennis champion himself who has won six Grand Slam titles – nothing to sneeze at. Tashi is his full-time coach, and Art is in a slump. With the U.S. Open approaching fast, Tashi signs him up for a lower level challenger event so that he can rack up some wins and boost his confidence. The plan seems sound and realistic, until Art winds up across the net from Patrick (Josh O’Connor), and all three find themselves facing down ghosts of the past.
I must start by mentioning that I am a pretty rabid tennis player and professional tennis fan who has been obsessed for about 20 years. Tennis has an intoxicating allure that I have never quite been able to pinpoint, but possibly it’s because tennis is the only sport I’ve really taken the time and energy to work at developing a decent, competitive level. In my free time, when I’m not at the movie theater, you can likely find me on court in a USTA match or maybe watching highlights of a tournament on my phone (I’m very cool). Films about tennis have been few and far between over the years, and most of them have been somewhat lackluster (Wimbledon, Borg vs McEnroe). The best ones (Battle of the Sexes, Match Point) have featured tennis as a backdrop rather than the center, full thrust of the story.
Sitting down for Challengers, I expected more of the same: a love triangle movie about people who happen to play tennis. What a surprise to find that Challengers is a film that loves and understands tennis and competition on a cellular level, and it makes a huge technical effort to put the sport in the forefront of the story in an exciting, visceral way. You have never seen tennis before the way that Guadagnino and his cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom present it here, and it had me mentally clapping like a seal throughout. On a separate, nerdy level, I was amazed at the level of technical details that went into the film as it drifts through different time periods (the racquets, the logos, etc.).
The film adopts a non-linear storyline to take us on a whirlwind journey through these characters’ lives. Challengers begins in 2019 as Tashi is watching anxiously as Art and Patrick face off in the final of the Phil’s Tire Town challenger event in New Rochelle, New York. We then become further acquainted with the trio back in 2006. Teenage Patrick and Art have just won the junior doubles title at the U.S. Open and are slated to play each other in the singles final. They settle down to watch the junior women’s final and are transfixed when they see Tashi, all intense energy and charisma, hitting glorious backhand winners and employing the most extreme footwork, possibly ever, to win the title. That night, they run into her at a promotional party and have a brief but meaningful connection discussing tennis and the future. The boys invite Tashi to their hotel room for a nightcap. She laughs it off, but they are shocked when she does come knocking on their door later that night. This encounter between the three of them is the catalyst for the rest of the story in which we see the ways in which their connection is ignited by a mixture of attraction, obsession, and contest.
As Tashi, Zendaya gives her best on-screen performance to date. There is never a moment when she isn’t completely dialed in to this character and her very complicated motivations. Tashi presents a difficult read from moment to moment, and Zendaya captures it all in her expressions and often hilarious line readings. It’s a complete character that she never tries to soften for the audience. Josh O’Connor is convincing and intriguing as Patrick. He gives electric new life to the all too common story of the guy who had all of the natural talent in the world but not the work ethic, drive, or desire to be great. We learn in the film that he comes from a very wealthy family, but we see him struggling to pay for a hotel room and sleeping in his car. It’s this stubbornness and unwillingness to relinquish control that makes his character fascinating. Mike Faist continues to be one of the most unique and watchable actors working today. Best known for all but stealing Steven Spielberg’s brilliant remake of West Side Story (2021), he gives Art subtle depth and complexity. Notice Art’s facial expressions and swagger in the 2006 scenes compared with how exhausted and tired he looks in 2019. It is a devastatingly real portrait of someone who has been on a rigorous journey through a very physical career coupled with the weight of his and Tashi’s expectations on his back.
The screenplay of Challengers, written by Justin Kuritzkes (husband of Celine Song), is a marvel of intricate details that tell a much larger story. Each character is given small idiosyncratic nuances that show you everything you need to know without a lot of exposition. In fact, the storytelling technique of jumping around in time in itself requires the audience to sit up and pay attention. I found this timeline juggling to be an exciting and enthralling method that engaged me fully in what was happening. Coupled with three performances that are totally on the same wavelength as Kuritzkes, we are treated to some magical moments where characters say things to each other, but we can read the truth in their eyes and expressions. Whatever the opposite of on-the-nose is, Kuritzkes is a master of it.
In terms of purely technical filmmaking, Luca Guadagnino has surpassed himself here. I am amazed by how many fresh and illuminating visual choices were made to show us the game of tennis in a new way. By the time the camera actually became the ball or we were getting views of the court from underneath, I was just shaking my head in admiration. When paired with a first-rate, heart-pounding score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (one of their very best), Challengers becomes undeniable in the way you so clearly feel yourself in the hands of smart people making a great piece of art. The entire push/pull nature of the many forms of competition we witness in this film is mirrored so well by the electrifying technical skill level.
I have been careful not to mention too much about the plot, because one of the many pleasures of Challengers is discovering how the plot unfolds in an original way. Because we get to know these characters so well, we are often surprised by their actions and motivations just like in real life how flawed people make mistakes or unexpected choices. It’s a movie about how competition requires you to step up and take advantage of opportunities, and how those instincts don’t just vanish as soon as you leave the tennis court. Tashi, Patrick, and Art all want different things and will problem-solve to figure out how to get them. If many films this year are up to the level of Challengers, then we are in for a great year at the movies.
