Luca Guadagnino’s filmography so far includes Call Me by Your Name, Bones and All, Suspiria and A Bigger Splash, all fantastic films that grabbed people’s attention, particularly Call Me by Your Name, which really catupulted the career of Timothee Chalamet, and even earned him an Oscar nomination. Since then, audiences of indie cinema have always kept their eye on Guadagnino’s films, then when you add Zendaya into the film it’s always going to be one that gets a lot of attention.
Challengers stars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor as young, up and coming Tennis players who want to take their game to the next level when they watch another up and comer who’s already getting noticed, Tashi Duncan (played by Zendaya). The two lads compete for her attention not just to win her affection but to improve their game, but who is really pulling the strings.
There’s a lot to like about this film from the cinematography, performances, direction and writing, it’s very well made film over all. Luca Guadagnino gets a lot of credit for how well this film plays, it’s not an easy film to make, jumping around across multiple time frames from during the match where we start the film to back 13 years to when the three first met, to a few years later than that to a week before this match. It’s an extremely well thought out film and it truly feels like it was made with 1000% effort put into every decision, a true vision brought to life, something Guadagnino deserves credit. He has a certain style and tone, he’s very good at setting and delivering on that.
The cast doesn’t extend much further on that the three leads with a lot of the focus being on Zendaya as she is very much the one the two guys are fighting over. Zendaya does a fantastic job, she’s a powerhouse in the industry after her Emmy award winning performances in Euphoria, and consistently delivers everytime she appears on screen these days and is getting to work with the best filmmakers around, understandabley almost competing over her. She’s already worked with Denis Villeneuve twice with Dune, and is set to at least more with Dune: Messiah and she is rumoured to be cast in his Cleopatra film. She also took on a producing role for this film as well, something again she had success with Euphoria, I very much see her going to become similar to Margot Robbie, who does a lot of producing alongside her acting. If the film manages to pick up any awards I think it’s strongest case could be for Zendaya, but there’s a long way to go before award season.
Mike Faist got his big break out role in Steven Spielberg’s fantastic reimagining of West Side Story and delivers a solid performance alonside Josh O’Connor who’s break out role was in Netflix series The Crown which earned him an Emmy for his role as a younger Prince Charles. The two have fantastic chemistry together, and I do wish the film had a bit more of a focus on them together rather than a lot of them being a part trying to manipulate Zendaya’s character in to their favour. They are true focus of the film, and where the most intrigue of the film comes from.
There’s fantastic scenes across the films, but none standout more than their gruelling tennis match which frames the films. Cleverly using the sets as acts, it comes to a climax at the end of the film, with a gruelling final set, which features some very unqiue camera angles from beneath the court to a prolonged shot where the camera becomes the ball being hit by each of the players. Not every creative decision in this film worked for me, but the ones that do, hit hard.
Challengers makes for a really gripping watch as the three leads deliver fantastic performances, delivered by an expert filmmaker who knows how to get the best out of his actors, another interesting, tense movie from Luca Guadagnino, who is providing some of the most unqiue films in cinema at the moment.
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