“Tennis is a relationship.”
That’s according to Tashi Duncan, the fictional tennis star played by Zendaya in director Luca Guadagnino’s dynamic, over-the-top “Challengers.”
After Tashi made her proclamation, my friend sitting to my right — a massive tennis fan — was laughing into his hands, while my friend to my left questioned why Tashi suddenly became philosophical. I chuckled and shook my head.
“Challengers” is a romantic drama masquerading as a sports film, relentlessly and shamelessly heightening the melodrama surrounding its central love triangle. It’s one of the messiest movies I’ve seen in a long time — and its messiness is its greatest strength.
The film revolves around a match between former friends who began pining for Tashi in high school: Patrick Zweig, played by Josh O’Connor, is broke and unknown, while Art Donaldson, played by Mike Faist, is a brand-name pro and Tashi’s husband.
As Tashi said, “tennis is a relationship” for each player; “Challengers” is aptly titled because Zweig and Donaldson are not only competing at a Challenger tournament but also challenging each other for Tashi’s approval and love. Zendaya, O’Connor and Faist are electric together, turning back-and-forth arguments into volleys where losing the point means losing oneself.
Zendaya portrays Tashi as both a retired tennis star and a master manipulator who can trick either man into giving her what she wants. The two-time Emmy winner is somewhat wooden in her more intense monologues and has little room to develop her emotional interiority after Tashi suffers a career-ending injury; however, she exudes Tashi’s quietly sensual confidence, whether she’s strutting toward the camera or smirking after gaining the upper hand in a tryst with Patrick and Art.
Even outside that tryst, “Challengers” abounds with sexual tension between all three leads (including Patrick and Art, who eat numerous phallus-shaped food items together and could’ve arguably resolved their conflict by getting together). Faist emphasizes the jealousies beneath Art’s gruff exterior, especially when portraying him as an insecure manchild. Meanwhile, the puppy-eyed O’Connor infuses Patrick’s rugged charm with quiet volatility, seething and speaking softly until he’s pushed to the brink and lashes out at Art and Tashi.
Screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes abruptly cuts between the present-day match and pivotal moments in each player’s past, withholding and gradually uncovering secrets in ways that parallel each character’s concealing, vengeful natures.
Guadagnino matches the tight pace of Kuritzkes’ script, which is supported by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s versatile cinematography. In certain scenes, Guadagnino pans the camera between each character, letting the tension simmer and boil over across one uninterrupted take. Elsewhere, he expands time with slow-motion shots and zooms in on raw emotion with sweaty close-ups that feel erotic but not gratuitous.
Many of these magnified moments lend an almost undue gravitas to the film’s central love triangle, accentuated by musical choices that are intriguing and somehow fitting: The booming techno score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross threatens to overwhelm on and off the court, and the occasional operatic choir voices lend an ironic magnificence to this affair.
“Challengers” itself becomes magnificent because of its messiness, not despite it. Its intensity jumps at you, even when a ball isn’t flying directly at the screen. As we reach match point and the tennis players let passion take over in both the game and their relationships, the film becomes every bit as reckless and unrestrained as them — and like the audience members turning their heads every time the ball crosses the court, you follow along with every move.
After the final serve and the final shot, you don’t quite know what you’ve seen. Perhaps confusion is the logical response after watching tennis become not only a relationship but also an art.
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X: @edwardsimoncruz
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