[Ad - Sponsored by Entertainment Earth] Zendaya has Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist by the tennis balls in Luca Guadagnino's steamy drama, that gets Film Brain hot under the collar.
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00:00 This video is sponsored by Entertainment Earth.
00:02 Hello and welcome to Projector, and on this episode,
00:05 Zendare, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Feist are proving that 2's tennis and 3's a crowd in Luca Guadagnino's Challengers.
00:14 [MUSIC]
00:30 In 2006, best friends and tennis partners Patrick Zwei and Art Dawson, played by Josh O'Connor and Mike Feist respectively,
00:37 both fought instantly for rising star Tashi Duncan, played by Zendare.
00:42 They both compete for her affections, which disintegrates their friendship, while Tashi suffers a career-ending injury.
00:49 13 years later, Tashi marries her husband Art, whose career is in a slump,
00:53 and enters him as a wildcard into a Challenger event in New Rochelle to build his confidence,
00:58 only to put him on a collision course with Patrick in the final, and the culmination of their rivalry over Tashi.
01:05 Challengers is the latest from Luca Guadagnino, and if you look at his filmography,
01:08 you can very much tell that he's interested in bodies and personalities clashing,
01:13 going all the way back to the last film of his I reviewed, A Bigger Splash, all the way back in 2015.
01:19 Yes, even before Call Me By Your Name, which I still haven't seen yet, but don't tell anyone.
01:25 But Guadagnino is definitely fascinated by desire and allure.
01:30 It's a throughline in many of his movies, going all the way through to Bones and All,
01:35 which, despite the cannibalism theme, had a definite sense of romanticism to it,
01:39 which made it even more disturbing.
01:42 But Guadagnino definitely doesn't shy away from sexuality in his movies.
01:46 Instead, he confronts it, which is very unusual for a mainstream film director in this day and age,
01:52 especially when many people have commented on how sexless a lot of mainstream movies are in this day and age.
01:58 But this and Saltburn, both MGM movies, definitely buck that trend,
02:04 and it seems like Guadagnino is very committed to making an erotic drama that's very much made for grown-ups
02:12 and is made with a certain expectation of maturity on the part of its audience.
02:17 In other words, it's made for adults.
02:20 But what's also notable about Challengers is that it's produced by Zendaya,
02:25 and I'm not talking about a VATI executive producer credit, I mean a full-blown producer credit for Zendaya,
02:31 and that's significant because this is her first major solo starring vehicle.
02:36 She's the focal point of the movie, especially in the marketing.
02:40 The poster is literally her face with the two tennis players reflected in her sunglasses.
02:46 She is the central attraction of the movie, and it does feel in many ways like Zendaya
02:52 is using this film to establish what she'll become.
02:57 She is taking the opportunity to create the roles that she wants to play,
03:02 the points that she wants to score.
03:05 Challengers is very much a statement of intent for Zendaya.
03:09 Early on, there's a moment where Tashi is talking to the two boys and says,
03:12 "You don't really know what tennis is. It's a relationship."
03:17 And in many ways, that epitomises Challengers in that, yes, it's about tennis,
03:23 but it's also very much not about tennis.
03:26 It's about the relationship between these three characters,
03:29 both as doubles but also as a love triangle.
03:34 And it makes sense for these characters that are so rigidly committed to their sport
03:38 that they view everything as tennis, even their attempt to win Tashi.
03:43 That is the prize that they're really playing for.
03:46 So it makes sense that the entire structure of the movie is also tennis.
03:51 Challengers has a very unusual narrative structure, but a very deliberate one.
03:56 It actually starts off fairly slowly.
03:59 It builds up the characters in 2019, leading up to the Challenger event,
04:03 and then goes to the final and plays out as flashbacks with each game that Art and Patrick play,
04:11 which of course backs up what Tashi says about tennis being a relationship.
04:16 It literally uses the game as a way of exploring the dynamic that has built up between these characters.
04:23 That deliberate structure is a genius trick.
04:26 It evokes tennis in the sense that it starts out very slowly and builds momentum as it goes along.
04:34 It requires a little bit of patience and a little bit of concentration
04:38 to keep up with what's happening on screen and following the timeline of the movie,
04:42 but ultimately you're rewarded for it because by the time the movie reaches its conclusion,
04:48 it really is building up to this massive crescendo.
04:51 But it's also about the back and forth between these characters as well,
04:55 and I'm not just talking about the way that Tashi goes between the two men
04:58 depending on their circumstances in terms of the plot,
05:01 but I'm also talking about the way that individual scenes are structured.
05:05 The script is really well written. It's full of lively, sparky dialogue.
05:10 The rapportee between the actors is fantastic, and they often deliver their lines to each other
05:16 like volleys, which is accentuated by the airing, the way that scenes are cut,
05:23 especially their interactions with Tashi, particularly art in 2019.
05:28 And so in that way, everything becomes a game. Everything becomes tennis.
05:34 And yeah, you could say that's just conventional dialogue airing
05:37 because it's just shot, reverse, shot, reverse, shot,
05:40 but in many ways that feels deliberate and pointed in the case of Challengers,
05:45 which is all about those ideas of who is actually in control,
05:50 and for much of the movie, that is Tashi.
05:53 We definitely see a different side to Zendaya in this movie.
05:56 I've been saying for a long time now that Zendaya has great screen presence.
06:00 She's just really magnetic in front of the camera,
06:03 but in Challengers, we get a sense for the first time just how talented she really is,
06:09 because this is a very complicated role, but she absolutely commands the film.
06:14 The teenage version of Tashi is very much closer to what Zendaya has done in the past,
06:19 and I do think that's a very deliberate, conscious choice
06:22 because that allows for a place to start from.
06:25 When we meet Tashi in those flashback scenes,
06:28 she's very much a star on the rise, and everyone knows it.
06:33 Sponsors are lining up. She has the future at her feet,
06:37 and Art and Patrick are instantly attracted to her,
06:41 and it's understandable why, because she's a shooting star.
06:45 She's someone that pulls everything into their orbit,
06:49 and she knows just how desirable she is, not just in terms of her career,
06:54 but also in terms of her body.
06:57 You can tell that she's someone that is aware and is in full command of her sexuality,
07:02 especially in the much-touted threesome scene early on in the hotel room.
07:08 She's fully in command of that situation.
07:11 She's playing and toying with them, and that's a really great scene.
07:16 She has both of them in the palm of her hands
07:19 because she knows that her sexuality can control the both of them,
07:22 and also because she is quite flattered by the attention,
07:26 but Tashi knows exactly what she wants.
07:29 She knows what her goals and ambitions are,
07:32 and she knows how to achieve them and how to use people to that end.
07:37 She's very much a careerist,
07:39 and sometimes that can make her quite ruthless and maybe even manipulative.
07:44 There's that moment where Art is trying to convince her
07:47 that Patrick is not in love with her, to which she snipes back,
07:50 "What makes you think I want someone in love with me?"
07:53 Tashi is someone that very much sees relationships as an opportunity,
07:57 as a way of forwarding herself,
07:59 and so in that sense, Tashi is very much serving herself.
08:04 She is not the prize, she is very much the one calling the shots and deciding the rules.
08:11 And in a much lesser movie, Tashi could have just simply been the verner of the peace,
08:15 the man-eater, the antagonistic force that breaks up the friendship
08:19 between these two men for her own amusement,
08:22 but Tashi is much more than that.
08:24 Her character is much more complex and nuanced,
08:28 and actually, I found her to be, to some extent, a quite tragic figure.
08:32 She's spent her entire life being groomed for success.
08:36 Everyone has told her that tennis stardom is in her grasp.
08:40 It's only a matter of time, and then suddenly, in a split second,
08:45 it's all taken away from her, and that means that those dreams have been quelled,
08:51 unless she finds another way of obtaining them,
08:54 and at that point, she becomes dependent on Art and Patrick,
08:59 and Art in particular, because he's the one that comes to her aid at her most dire moment of need.
09:05 I think that, in the beginning, their relationship maybe was actually built
09:09 on a sense of respect between the two of them,
09:13 but what's interesting is the way the relationship evolves over time
09:17 and into the 2019 scenes, where Tashi has transformed herself
09:21 in light of her injury, and not for the better.
09:24 Tashi has spent much of the interviewing time reconstructing the image of success
09:29 that was foretold for her.
09:31 Early on, there's a moment where she's actually looking over the notes
09:34 of a publicity image between the pair of them.
09:37 She has constructed this idea of Art and Tashi as being a power couple,
09:43 that their marriage is a symbol of strength,
09:46 that they are people that win and succeed,
09:49 but the reality is that their marriage is not that,
09:52 and instead, it's a rather harshly codependent relationship,
09:56 because Tashi relies on Art to play tennis for her.
10:01 He is playing on her behalf, effectively making him an avatar for her,
10:07 but also meaning that Art is extremely reliant on Tashi's validation,
10:13 and Art is going through a slump,
10:16 because he's not only lacking that in his own marriage,
10:20 but he's also lacking confidence within himself,
10:23 and that threatens the entire thing.
10:26 And Tashi is especially irritated by Art's fecklessness.
10:30 Zendaya's performance makes clear that Tashi's worst qualities
10:33 have effectively metastasized since her injury,
10:36 since she's even more coldly cynical and ruthless about her career ambitions,
10:41 and her interactions with Art are often peppered with resentment and disdain,
10:45 especially about the fact that he can play and she can't.
10:49 And Zendaya's performance is so richly nuanced,
10:53 you can tell that she's stepping up to adult drama.
10:56 This shows her full potential,
10:59 and I think that it's clear that not only is she up to the level of this movie,
11:03 but also shows that she has so much more to give in the future.
11:08 She can only get better from here.
11:11 But it isn't just about Tashi, it's about Patrick and Art,
11:14 and as much as they're competing for her,
11:16 it's about competing with each other.
11:19 You see, Patrick and Art are really good friends.
11:22 Really, really, really, really good friends.
11:26 Which is to say their relationship is extremely homoerotic,
11:30 and they appear to be the only ones that haven't noticed that yet.
11:34 And Guadagnino makes it very overt over the course of the movie.
11:38 In fact, the first time you move to a flashback,
11:40 they're celebrating winning their doubles game together,
11:43 and Art literally jumps into Patrick's arms,
11:46 and they fall to the floor together.
11:48 If the two characters got any more friendly with each other,
11:51 they'd be reenacting the rug wrestling scene from Women in Love.
11:54 In fact, that's the moment that the hotel room encounter
11:58 most actually brings the memory of.
12:00 But certainly there are several moments that allude to the homoeroticism
12:04 between the two characters.
12:06 There's that moment in the cafeteria
12:08 where Art and Patrick are teasing each other over Tashi,
12:11 and they are carrying these churros in their hand,
12:14 just sticking out incredibly phallic-like.
12:18 In fact, if they were any longer,
12:20 I'm pretty sure they'd be crossing swords with each other,
12:22 if you know what I mean.
12:24 There's another moment where Patrick taunts Art by eating a banana
12:28 while they're waiting on the side of the court.
12:30 It's that kind of subtlety all throughout the entire movie.
12:35 And the two men are different size of the same coin.
12:38 They compliment each other,
12:39 which means they work beautifully as a doubles pair,
12:42 but when they're separated, they're lacking something that the other has.
12:46 Patrick, for example, in the later scenes of the movie,
12:50 he's never really had his big break.
12:52 He's in his 30s, and he's still struggling in the minor leagues, essentially,
12:57 and he's never really had a chance to prove himself.
13:01 He's very charismatic, and he knows how to charm his way into a situation.
13:06 And certainly he has that power over Tashi.
13:10 Despite the fact that she's pushing him away,
13:12 especially in the 2019 scenes,
13:15 somehow he finds a way of getting under her skin.
13:18 Somehow he finds a way of pushing himself back into her orbit,
13:23 and she finds herself unable to resist at points.
13:26 There is definitely something about Patrick that has some kind of allure,
13:30 even though he's not openly successful,
13:34 despite the fact that he's running from a quite privileged background.
13:38 While Art, on the other hand, is the more compassionate of the pair,
13:43 but he's also quite sensitive.
13:45 He also needs extreme emotional validation,
13:49 and that is why he's caught in a loveless marriage to Tashi
13:53 in the later scenes of the movie.
13:55 And both Josh O'Connor and Mike Feist are brilliant in their respective roles.
14:01 Again, they complement each other fantastically.
14:04 This is a movie that is very much a three-hander between these characters.
14:08 Everyone else is extremely peripheral.
14:11 It's all about this core relationship.
14:14 And again, it isn't just about Tashi,
14:18 it's about Art and Patrick because it's also a game between them.
14:22 It is all about trying to beat each other.
14:26 And I mean the innuendo there.
14:28 One of the most memorable things about Challengers is its score
14:30 by Trent Rasnall and Atticus Ross.
14:33 Reteen with Guadagnino after Bones and all.
14:35 And you would think with a movie set in the tennis world,
14:38 it would have a quite classical score,
14:40 given it's set in the world of the upper crust.
14:42 But it's pretty clear that all involved with Challengers
14:46 very much set out to make a tennis movie that didn't feel stayed.
14:49 Instead, the score is actually club and techno based.
14:54 It provides a pounding backbone to the entire movie.
14:58 And certainly, it caught me by surprise,
15:00 especially because I wasn't expecting a score that felt so modern
15:04 for this kind of movie.
15:05 But it really does work.
15:08 It amplifies that comparative spirit throughout the entire film.
15:12 Whether it's on the court or off it,
15:14 whether it's a tennis match or a dialogue based scene,
15:18 everything feels sporting because of this score.
15:21 Everything feels like an adrenaline rush as it pounds throughout the entire movie.
15:27 It does have a quite repetitive rhythm,
15:29 but it gets you hooked into the action immediately.
15:33 It makes everything feel very dramatic and important
15:37 and amplifies the fact that everything is all part of the game.
15:42 It makes the movie feel incredibly exciting,
15:45 even though much of it is just characters talking to each other.
15:50 If I did have a complaint with the score though,
15:52 occasionally I found the mixing did overwhelm the dialogue in certain instances
15:58 because the pounding bass does take out some of the dialogue from the characters,
16:03 at least in the screen that I attended.
16:05 Which brings us to the tennis in the movie,
16:07 which is extremely heightened,
16:09 not just by the music, but also just the way that it's staged and executed.
16:13 Guadagnino puts a lot of emphasis on bodies and physicality,
16:17 on their athleticism of muscles and bones as they jump and leap around the court,
16:24 and of their bodies glistening and dripping with sweat.
16:28 There's a lingering slow motion shot where Art looks down to the camera
16:32 and the sweat is dripping onto the lens.
16:35 It's extremely sexualized,
16:38 but also it's very melodramatic and over-the-top as well.
16:42 The characters do enough cursing and racket smashing on the court
16:46 that it would make John McEnroe blush.
16:49 It's all part of making sure that tennis feels very cinematic and exciting.
16:55 And by the time of the big finale between Art and Patrick,
17:00 Guadagnino pulls all the tricks out of the bag.
17:03 You can tell that he's thinking to himself,
17:05 "How do I not make a boring game of tennis?"
17:09 He has whipped things up to an almost camp crescendo in the finale of the movie
17:15 with really unusual camera angles.
17:18 Have you ever seen a tennis match from the POV of the ball?
17:22 You get it for a brief moment in Challengers.
17:25 There are several very distinctive shots that are actually shot underneath the court,
17:30 which has the effect of making Art and Patrick look like gods.
17:35 It's all about the movement and physicality of them,
17:38 and the editing in that moment is really good at making the audience feel hyped
17:44 as it moves even higher to an absolute fever pitch before the final seconds of the movie.
17:51 The moment that Challengers reveals what it's all about in those final seconds,
17:56 it comes to an absolute catharsis that is extremely satisfying for the drama,
18:02 but also for the game at hand, which isn't necessarily about tennis.
18:08 I think it's pretty obvious by now that Challengers isn't just any old movie about tennis.
18:12 It might be the best movie about the sports ever made,
18:14 but that might also be because it isn't actually about that.
18:18 Instead, what it is is an adult erotic drama that genuinely turns up the heat at the right moments.
18:25 It's a very playful and sexy movie that's anchored by three very strong performances
18:31 from each of its cast, especially Zendaya.
18:34 Not that I had any doubts about her before, but if you did,
18:38 I think that'll all be dispelled by the end of Challengers
18:40 that proves that she has the talent to back up that star power.
18:45 In addition to that, you've got the pounding score, a very twisty script,
18:50 and Guadagnino directing the hell out of this movie with eye-popping camera work
18:56 that accentuates it into being this incredibly engrossing, highly watchable film.
19:03 Match point to Guadagnino.
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