Luca Guadagnino has been on quite a roll since releasing “I Am Love” in 2009. If you are looking for touching and intimate stories, whether they are beautiful (“Call Me By Your Name”) or horrifying (“Bones and All”), he is the director to look out for. I hold him in high regard for how he manages to garner emotional attachments in ways that stay with you. Scenes and images from his work are pierced into your mind, and you tend to replay them occasionally. However, it is unfortunate that the Italian filmmaker has made a film that doesn’t garner this remembrance experience. His latest work, “Challengers,” is yet another love story that begins and develops just like we expect his films to do.
Jealousy, lust, betrayal, and innocence go back and forth like a tennis match, with two men serving on each side while a woman watches as she pleases — staying in the middle of it all and manipulating each move. A love triangle emerges from the sport (and into the sheets); Guadagnino uses it to develop the threads in the trio’s relationship. And while all of this might sound like a mixture of elements for a spicy, dramatic feat, “Challengers” can’t work to its highest possibilities, ending as stylistically overcooked and unamusingly tame. Everything begins in 2019, well… not really. The film starts that year, but the story of this love triangle goes way back.
A Love Triangle Transitioning From 2006 to 2009
There’s a rich, saddening history behind what is occurring on the tennis court. The people who have paid to see the sport don’t realize the blood, sweat, and tears these players have spilled on their journey to this match. Art (Mike Faist) is facing off against Patrick (Josh O’Connor), his former pair partner and childhood friend. There’s tension between the two as they have plenty of history with Art’s coach (and wife), Tashi (Zendaya). One’s a champion who is nearing an age of recline, while the other is trying to grasp his final shot at success, as well as redemption for what has happened prior. We head to 2006, where the young, talented pair first meet Tashi, who was near to being the face of the sport’s women’s division.
Immediately, they are captivated by her. The camera captures all of her splendor, causing not only Art and Patrick but also the audience to fall under her spell. At first, things begin as a game; the two compete for her time and do whatever they can to tie her up. But they don’t know she has plenty of tricks up her sleeves. The first few minutes are dedicated to putting us in the middle of this dilemma, where we are meant to start thinking about how things ended up as they did without many specifics. You feel the tension, yet there’s this uncertainty about the crux of this relationship. This is the exciting segment that “Challengers” provides early on.
From Camaraderie to Angst and Resentment
You get hints of information, but it isn’t until a single kiss that you notice the main reason for the fallout. The rest of the film’s runtime must be dedicated to painting the rest of the portrait, warts and all. Divided by sets, “Challengers” moves back and forth between the past and present to examine this relationship—how everything developed, fell apart, and concluded. Guadagnino uses the back-and-forth swings of a tennis racket as the backbone for the film’s structure. Whether during the first couple of minutes or its curtain closer, “Challengers” repeats its crucial sentence several times: “Tennis is like a relationship.” This saying develops the physical and mental matches that these players have with one another. And it is intertwined with the ’90s erotic thriller sparks oozing from its core, with manipulation, lust, and betrayal coming into play from the get-go.
What began as camaraderie (and a low-lighted romantic tension between Art and Patrick) now contains angst and agony. However, the appearance of Tashi in their lives has caused a couple of ruptures, both as a pair and individually. Guadagnino explores the three sides in this triad of manipulative passion: Patrick and Tashi, Chani and Art, and Patrick and Art – the latter of the three being is the most interesting one, and it is the least explored. There seems to be zero passion from the screen for all those angles of devotion. The film is horny indeed and has plenty of erotic scenes without actual sex in them. Yet, the emotions don’t translate from the screen to the audience watching.
One of the big problems I have with “Challengers” is the approach to which every romantic angle, rooted in a manipulative or genuine tone, is handled. Saying that Guadagnino’s cinema has a lot of romance is an understatement. He captures the beauty behind each look, glance, body movement, and touch. Beauty is also distilled in the sceneries that accompany his films. It accumulates into a very moving experience that travels through your senses. While watching “Challengers,” I felt that feeling was missing from Guadagnino, no matter how horny or thorny the story developed. The film is too tame and calm instead of unnerving and risk-taking, which concerns the crowd-pleasing element. However, there comes a point where it all feels like the narrative could benefit from leaning more toward the provocation side of things to make the story pop more.
A Mixed Screenplay with Solid Performances to Depend On
The main culprit of this issue is the screenplay by playwright Justin Kuritzkes. He packs a couple of piquant punches to pump the crowd up. Yet they only do minor damage by the end. The story is becoming comical, with genuine moments transitioning into ridiculous ones in seconds. This comes in a fifty-fifty split. Part of the dialogue feels detached from what the movie wants to be at its core. At least the screenplay is driven by talented actors who give it their all and go beyond. Regarding the performances, Mike Faist was the strongest out of the three. He exuberates some kind of magnetism that captures his cinematic presence.
I want Faist to pursue more complex roles in the future, engaging with other genres. He has the allure many filmmakers search for in their respective projects. Meanwhile, Josh O’Connor churns out a performance similar to his most previous work with Alice Rohrwacher, although without the melancholy attached. O’Connor plays a sullen soul searching for something long gone. I love how he captures a feeling that has dissipated through time and the fracture in a relationship that was once full of devotion. He is one of the most prominent actors of this new generation. With each performance, we get a new side to his acting chips. He shares a newly found ability that helps express his character’s emotions and stability.
In my opinion, Zendaya is the weaker of the three. She is having her first big studio leading role in a dramatic feature. The young talent isn’t particularly bad, just rather disappointing, as she can’t hold this role in her hands. Zendaya is a great upcoming talent, and there are sparks in every project she’s a part of. Luca Guadagnino, a prominent actors-director, trusts Zendaya plenty with “Challengers,” giving her an array of different scenarios in which to sink her teeth into the material. These scenes vary from somewhat melodramatic and romantic to commanding and erotic. Yet none of them feel as if she is grasping it properly. From a filmmaking standpoint, there are a couple of issues, with a few positive notes.
Overcooked Stylistic Endeavors, Specifically on the Last Act
The film is a mixed bag in terms of style. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (“Memoria,” “Suspiria”) blends multiple styles according to the setting the story is in at the moment. Some of these maneuvers are fascinating, as we have become accustomed to seeing in Mukdeeprom’s work these past few years. But in the last act, all hell breaks loose. The audience is left both bewildered and baffled by each stylistic endeavor. We see one from Patrick’s perspective and Mike’s perspective. Guadagnino attaches a Go-Pro camera to the ball and moves from side to side in rapid haste. The camera follows the audience looking from left to right, goes under the tennis court as if it were glass, and reaches the headlights in the top view where we see everything.
It all feels incredibly overcooked in flashy endeavors that don’t elicit a reaction from the viewer. Overdirecting is one of the critiques that Guadagnino’s previous features have. Let’s take his “Suspiria” remake as an example. In that film, there’s an excessiveness in his approach. Each cut, zoom, or camera move adds to the witchy, dread-inducing atmosphere. The same thing happens in his adaptation of “Bones and All.” Some people see the flashiness as excessive. Yet, it adds to the loneliness, love, and agony that is rapidly simmering in the souls of these young travelers. However, in “Challengers,” these maneuvers or techniques don’t seem to add much to the film, apart from making a tennis match seem more energetic and powerful on a cinematic canvas.
The atmosphere remains mostly the same throughout the film’s runtime, even with the secrets and manipulation piling up. I admire the film more than I enjoy it. Its ideas and central concepts are pretty exciting and intriguing at first glance. In full honesty, there needs to be more films like this: horny, dramatic, and holding its actors on all accounts. While “Challengers” is more tame than it should be, you can see it as a stepping stone for more directors to make movies similar to this one in today’s cinema. Nevertheless, I felt there was more to add to this story for a more memorable narrative.
“Challengers” hits theaters worldwide on April 26th, 2024.
