Challengers

CHALLENGERS (15)

D: Luca Guadagnino 

MGM / Frenesy Film Company / Why Are You Acting? (Amy Pascal, Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya & Rachel O’Connor)

US 🇺🇸 2024

131 mins

Sports/Drama/Romance

W: Justin Kuritzkes

DP: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom 

Ed: Marco Costs

Mus: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Zendaya (Tashi Duncan), Josh O’Connor (Patrick Zweig), Mike Faist (Art Donaldson)

Though I’m a huge fan of tennis as a sport, there aren’t many films about tennis that I’ve found to have hit the mark. However, Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 film isn’t really about tennis, it’s about a love triangle, of sorts.

The non-linear storyline follows the paths of Patrick Zweig & Art Donaldson, two tennis professionals who were once close friends when they competed to become junior doubles champions many years earlier, before they crossed paths with Tashi Duncan, a rising star in her own right who they both have a relationship with, effectively ending their friendship.

The wraparound to this back story begins and ends with them competing in the final of a challenger tournament in New York, in a tense contest going the very distance.

Though there are some good things about this film, with snappy editing, good cinematography and a rather amazing music score, I just didn’t think it was the whole package, with much of the narrative taking place from Zendaya’s perspective when she’s the least interesting character in the movie, going through most of it with the same frumpy look on his face.

Josh O’Connor plays the film’s most interesting character, a down-on-his-luck bum who goes from tournament to tournament using the prize funds for his hand-to-mouth existence. In stark contrast to Mike Faist, whose success in the game has translated itself to his lifestyle.

The film was a bit of a bait-and-switch experience for me, as I was expecting it to be one thing, but it ended up being something else, and that’s fine, since unpredictability and surprises are par for the course, but I don’t think the film had the courage to say what it really wanted to say, culminating in a complete cop out of an ending.

Too many faults for me, resulting in an overall experience that was far less than the sum of all its parts, but many people have this amongst their favourite films of 2024, so perhaps I’m simply the wrong audience for it.

6/10