Films for Breakfast

In an age where films are losing their sensuality and sex appeal, Luca Guadagnino comes in guns blazing with his latest film Challengers, which has enough sexual and romantic tension to power a country for a year. The film follows Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy who is a force of nature on the court and enchants everyone she comes across when she’s off of it. The film jumps back and forth through time from when Tashi first meets Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) to after a devastating injury that sidelines Tashi’s career, as she takes on coaching her now-husband Art. As the film progresses in non-linear fashion, we put the pieces together on how this love triangle started, just how complicated and entangled they all are to one another, and what they will give to win.

Challengers largely benefits from feeling like the type of film we don’t see a lot of anymore. Even on top of the fact that it’s a lot more sensual and romantic than a lot of the fare you’d see today, the film has a great mid-budget quality where it is completely character and star-driven in the best possible way. Zendaya has become increasingly more and more popular each year that has passed, especially since the launch of Euphoria back in 2019. With Challengers, she proves her ability to fully lead a feature and the range she has as a performer. Tashi is an incredibly unpredictable character where you never 100% know what she’s plotting or feeling, but Zendaya articulates so much through her facial expressions and mannerisms that you can feel her drive to win in each and every frame. During the tennis sequences, she is absolutely electric with some true ferocity in her performance that rings true to helping the audience believe she’s an athlete – but as she begins to grasp a hold on the two men she gets entangled with, you become all the more enamored with her as a viewer.

With a film where the plot largely focuses on a love triangle, the film needs all three of the leads to not only have solid chemistry together but for all three to individually give great performances. Mike Faist really blew me away with his show-stealing performance in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake in 2021, and he is equally fantastic here as Art, the most sympathetic character in the film. Faist really wears his heart on his sleeve for this performance and delivers one that is both vulnerable and electric in equal measure. However, in a film where Zendaya and Mike Faist are predictably great, Josh O’Connor really blew me away with his incredible performance. I’ve seen Josh O’Connor in a few other films before this, but the magnetism he holds in every sequence he’s in here has this feeling like A Star is Born-esque quality to it. He is so effortlessly attractive, not only due to his physical attributes but to the way he carries himself onscreen – and that goes a long way when he gets in the way of Tashi and Art’s marriage. He’s also an equally unpredictable and dramatic character that O’Connor fully utilizes and showcases gracefully. Truly fantastic work.

When the three leads are on-screen together, it is absolute dynamite. There is a sequence early on in the film with the three of them in a hotel room that has been highly advertised, and it may just be the best sequence in the entire film as Guadagnino truly lets the characters breathe and converse with a long take without many cuts. As the film progresses and the love triangle becomes more elaborate and dramatic, I found myself incredibly invested in not only how emotional it all is but how sensual and unapologetically romantic the entire picture is. Romance is almost a lost art form in modern day filmmaking, but the lust and love found in Challengers is so palpable.

Guadagnino’s films are known for their sensitivity when portraying the drama of the character’s lives, and his use of texture, location, and passion is as great as ever here. I previously praised the film for how sexual and romantic it is between its characters, but the film also frames the sport of tennis in an incredibly romantic and sexual way, too. Zendaya’s character Tashi articulates in the film that playing tennis with the perfect opponent is no different than being in love; to truly be in-sync with another person that is locked in on you is a beautiful feeling. Guadagnino doesn’t stop short at simply letting the tennis sequences be intense, but he and cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom experiment greatly when the camera is on the court; from a tennis ball POV to the way it frenetically moves alongside the characters and their muscles, you feel as locked in as the players are. The subtext and style makes every tennis sequence not only exhilarating, but almost poetic as well.

I’d also be remissed to not mention the brilliant score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Reznor and Ross are two of the best composers working today in Hollywood, and it almost feels pointless to praise them at this point because when you see them credited on a film, you already know that the score will be incredible. However, when it comes to Challengers, I truly believe this is some of their best and most unique work yet. There are so many sequences throughout where the score truly elevates the already-great material and adds tension to not only the tennis sequences but also deeper character moments. The score commands the film from start to finish and adds to the conflicting and heavy emotions that are already being conveyed in such a beautiful and precise manor. I’m already campaigning it for a nomination at the Academy Awards next year.

By the end of Challengers, when all the threads of the narrative and characters fully intertwine, I found myself nearly on the edge of my seat in anticipation to see how the story would resolve. This is such a refreshing change of pace that is sure to delight anyone with an affinity for films that take their characters and romance seriously. Guadagnino has crafted a beautifully intimate, sensual, and often times intense film about the cost of greatness and winning. The film never provides easy ways out or easy answers for its characters, and enjoys lingering with the toughest and juiciest moments they can endure. From the top notch tennis sequences to the pure sexual tension, Challengers is a true winner and another great entry to Guadagnino’s filmography.

4.5/5