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Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino never seems to “fault,” despite constantly raising the bar of his style and art. His latest movie “Challengers” is another testament to his brilliance – but this time, we’re spun into the tennis world, rather than northern Italy or the backroads of America.

“Challengers” was served into theaters this weekend and has already been met with a rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes as of Tuesday. The movie currently sits at #1 on IMDB’s Top Box Office chart with a $15 million weekend gross.

While fans of romance and tennis alike gathered in theaters, it’s no surprise that a large audience also attended in support of lead actress Zendaya. Moving on from her Disney Channel childhood, Zendaya’s roles in the television show “Euphoria,” the sci-fi movie franchise “Dune” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” prove she’s got more than just dance moves with Bella Thorne.

“Challengers” sets the tone from the beginning of the movie at a tennis tournament in New Rochelle, New York. The tournament is a singles final between two of our main characters: Art Donaldson, a down-on-his-luck grand slam champion attempting to gain confidence on smaller courts, and Patrick Zweig, a nobody low-level pro trying to scrape together cash with his skills.

Then, through a series of time jumps, we understand the connection between Art (Mike Faist), Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a world-famous tennis star turned coach.

Though the time jumps are difficult to follow at times, their importance stems from illustrating the ebbs and flows of the trio’s history – from their first meeting to the night before the big tournament. Each time the movie jumps backward in time, it reveals even higher stakes for the present-day tournament.

The movie is, yes, about a love triangle between the three as they go from their promising tennis careers as high school seniors to adulthood. But the movie also showcases incredible depth to each protagonist. The method of starting at the end of the story and working backward is fresh and exciting, leaving the audience wondering what will happen next.

In terms of casting, the three leads are absolutely perfect – and of course very appealing. Guadagnino knew what he was doing, working with cinematography to produce alluring images of bare muscle, sweat dripping and eyes gazing to display sexual tension.

Beyond the sexy shots of Art and Patrick, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s overall cinematography was unconventionally sensational. Some of the best shots we see have to be the point-of-view shots of the tennis ball or players, the extreme close-ups of the eyes, slow motions, dolly shots and even an under-the-court perspective that makes it seem like the characters are playing in the sky.

In our present-day tournament, Tashi is Art’s ferocious coach and wife. Suffering from an injury, Tashi lives out her tennis stardom dreams vicariously through Art, bringing him from mediocre to champion. When Art begins spiraling downward, she enters him in a challenger tournament – one of the lowest levels of the pro tour – to gain his confidence back.

This, of course, is where Art and Tashi reconnect with Patrick at the finals, and we begin to understand just how far their relationship goes. Patrick and Art met as children at a tennis academy and have been bunkmates and best friends ever since; or perhaps, something more.

Later on Tashi meets the pair at the Junior U.S. Open in their senior year of high school. Art and Patrick became completely captivated (as the audience undoubtedly did too) by Tashi’s glamorous magnetism, sparking a never-ending love triangle that uses tennis as a sexual innuendo.

The time begins to blur more and more as the audience realizes that things have never really changed;at the end of the day, all three are still competing against each other for one another.

There’s an overarching theme of relationships, too, first found in a piece of dialogue where Tashi claims that tennis is a relationship between two that are playing. When tennis is well played, you can feel the tension.

And you could definitely feel the tension in the final match between Art and Patrick.

While spectators jerk their heads back and forth, watching the ball, Tashi sees past it to find the psychological game Art and Patrick are truly playing in the tournament. Though Tashi initially chose Patrick when they were teenagers, it is after her career-ending injury that she embraces Art. But Patrick, and his devilish grin, never quite leave their lives.

Perhaps one of the most captivating parts of this film, despite the actors themselves, is the techno music piped in throughout. It’s fun, alarming and catchy, but it also serves another purpose – like a heartbeat, each time there is tension between characters, the familiar rhythm almost always appears to signify a change in the film’s pace.

“Challengers” is just as much about tennis as it is about love, ambition and desire – though it may be through the two boys more so than it is between them and Tashi.. Over time, it is revealed that Tashi may like winning tennis matches more than she likes either of the boys.

And so as the boys play through the Challengers tournament and meet in the final, their intense best-of-three sets affair ends in a tie break, with Tashi front row watching. You’ll have to see for yourself the fate of the rally that ensues on-screen in Guadagnino’s brilliant “Challengers” movie.

Published on April 30, 2024 at 8:41 pm

Contact Faith: flbolduc@syr.edu