Tennis and Love Triangles Make for one of the Best Movies of the Year
Tennis has come so far. From its humble beginnings in Wii Sports, to something called the ‘US Open’, to now, finally, a movie. I’ll admit to not initially being super excited for Challengers. The trailer, set to Rihanna’s S&M, made it out to be more of movie about Zendaya being such a wily seductress that she can get TWO guys at once, with tennis being just the set dressing.
Thankfully, Challengers is a lot more layered than the trailer made it out to be (which shouldn’t be surprising). The movie jumps around in time a lot, with the dynamics between the three leads in constant flux, but the premise is, generally: Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), a couple of besties/tennis players, are both infatuated with Tashi Donaldson (Zendaya), another tennis player/coach, to varying degrees across a decade-plus timespan.
No Man’s Land
The plot plays out in non-linear fashion, with the modern-day ‘frame story’ being a match between Art and Patrick that, initially, we have no context for. Flashbacks, beginning at thirteen years ago and working their way forward, fill in the gaps. In a nice bit of symmetry, the battle over Tashi’s affection in the past is mirrored in the fluctuations of the score between Art and Patrick in the modern-day tennis game.
And it really is a battle. At its core, Challengers is a movie about competition. Whether for love or for glory, competition is what motivates every character, especially Tashi. She all but lives for ‘good f*cking tennis.’ It’s her primary concern no matter who she’s with. In one of her first interactions with Art and Patrick, she asks them which one of them… uh, lost a race between the two, shall we say. She deliberately plays the two off each other for her own satisfaction.
Not a sexual satisfaction.
G.F.T.
Challengers got a lot of people squealing online leading up to it’s release, mostly, I think, because it was touted as 50 Shades but with tennis (that was my impression, at least). Regardless, this is a sexy movie—certainly the sexiest movie I’ve ever seen without a single sex scene.
It’s all in the tension and the unanswered questions—even when we think we know what’s happened because we’ve seen how things have seemingly shaken out in the modern day, newly revealed developments in the past are constantly reshaping our understanding of the match between Art and Zweig.
The way Challengers keeps you at the edge of full understanding—you both want the tension to resolve and to have the rug pulled out from underneath you one more time—is nothing short of immaculate writing.
Love All
The movie doesn’t shy away from highlighting just how broken these characters are, either. While there is something undeniably glamorous about Tashi in beginning—certainly when she’s viewed through the lens of Art and Patrick’s gaze—she does go on to develop some borderline unforgiveable traits.
How you feel about Tashi by the end of the movie hinges entirely on your own ability to empathise with her trauma and her actions. There is something intoxicating about watching a movie that doesn’t tell you how to feel, but whether you like Tashi or not, Zendaya’s performance is magnetic.
Art and Patrick are drawn with similar layers. Despite sharing many surface-level traits, their approaches to tennis and Tashi feel distinct. Who you root for to be with Tashi throughout the movie is entirely up to you. How Tashi affects their friendship is the more interesting question, though. Their friendship/rivalry is as much an emotional core of the movie as Tashi’s choices, and watching them compete, strategise, and bond throughout the film is where you’ll find the biggest laughs and highest conflict.
I should also point out Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s mesmerising score (which I am listening to as I write this). I didn’t know they were scoring this movie until, like, thirty seconds into the movie. Their sound is so distinct, yet it works perfectly here, adding a sense of weight and style to an already weighty and stylish movie. Challengers positively oozes flair and… and coolness. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie this cool since the last time I watched Ocean’s Eleven.
Game, Set, Match
Challengers is going to be on a lot of people’s top ten of 2024 lists. I’m generally terrible at Oscar predictions, but if this doesn’t get an Original Screenplay nomination, it’ll only be because L.A. got blown up in a nuclear disaster and there’s no Oscar awards next year. The directing, the writing, the performances, the cinematography—I literally can’t find fault in it. Go see it.
***
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