Very rarely does a film so succinctly establish exactly what it's about quite like Challengers does in one of its opening scenes. As Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), Junior Doubles champions and lifelong friendly rivals, watch Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) play for the first time, the film, at this point established by the whip-smart, often funny banter of its protagonists, chooses to focus on expression. Luca Guadagnino expertly cuts between the game—Tashi's domination of an ill-tempered opponent—and the boys reactions—a mixture of slack-jawed awe and barely-hidden attraction—with the camera locked on them as they struggle to take their eyes off her, falling out of rhythm with the rest of the crowd. When Tashi hits the winning serve, her roar of victory and Pat's hand gripping Art's knee in a moment of impulse tell us everything we need to know: sport and sex are an intimate experience unlike any other, and the pursuit of that feeling of connection will drive these three forward for the rest of their lives.
"For about fifteen seconds there, we were actually playing tennis," explains Tashi as she describes the match later. "We understood each other completely. So did everyone watching. It's like we were in love." Tennis, in the film's eyes, demands intimacy, commitment that only another can help you find, and without it, it's, as Pat ignobly puts it, just hitting a ball with a racquet. Throughout the film's flashbacks, a showcase of how the trio came together and fell apart that breaks up Pat and Art's rematch at a Challenger event, we see the character's endless hunt for this connection and the often poor choices made to chase this high. It's a credit to the film's script, written by the potion seller himself Justin Kuritzkes, to sell this subject matter so beautifully, and each of the characters is written so confidently that everything feels like a natural conclusion to their clashing personalities.
Of course, the cast, dripping with sexual tension and easy chemistry, is fantastic as well. Zendaya, unsurprisingly, is a standout, shifting from the siren-esque allure and blunt attitude of young Tashi to the ferocious, quietly embittered Tashi of the modern day, forced by injury to live out a career vicariously through Art. A modern Helen of Troy, you instantly understand why both of these men have lived a life obsessed with her. Faist and O'Connor, like any great sports movie, settle into the role of eternal face and heel, their dynamic shifting into a toxicity and rivalry that was evident from their first scenes together. Faist's Art grows from a quiet, insightful sidekick to a weary champion, while O'Connor's Pat reeks of a bully all grown up and left chasing his glory days. Full of familiarity and resnetment that can only be bred with time, the trio's conversations often make for as exciting a back and forth as any of the movie's actual matches.
This is no slight against the matches, of course. Guadagnino, editor Marco Costa, and cinematographer Sayombu Mukdeeprom play each match as a visceral experience, focusing on individual hits and movements over sets as a whole. It creates the feeling of us along for the ride, feeling every moment like an enraptured audience. When Art swears in a moment of frustration, we feel it. As an enraged Pat smashes his racquet, we feel it. When Tashi suffers a career-ending knee injury, good god, do we feel it. This kinetic filmmaking ties around the intimate nature of the film, the audience effectively living inside the characters heads, their flashbacks allow us a viewing of exactly what plagues them as the tournament moves to its final match, a nearly silent showdown between Art and Pat that leaves you enraptured and chasing that high until the credits roll. "We've barely spoken two words to each other," bemoans Pat during a tense reunion in a sauna. An attempt to get inside his opponent's head, it also underscores what is obvious, from the homoerotic scenes of them as young men to the familiar back and forth of their match: Art and Pat don't need to talk when the intimate connection is already there. The real conversation is had without saying a word.
No comments:
Post a Comment