Here’s a film that is madly in love with its narrative structure, and I do mean that as a compliment. “Challengers,” a triangular tennis romance in which Zendaya’s Tashi, a tennis prodigy, is the object of lust and affection of two players, keeps going back and forth in time, with multiple timelines used — it’s unlike anything I’ve seen before. Call it a screwball noir.
We begin with Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist), both 20, who have a bromance going, playing doubles partners, with aspirations of going up in the tennis circuit. However, it all changes for the worst when they meet Tashi (Zendaya). Their jaws drop, madly in love at first sight, and soon after that, Patrick starts dating her.
The present-day story has Tashi, sidelined by a career ending injury, now coaching Art, her husband and hotshot tennis star who’s on a nasty losing streak. Tashi comes up with a plan which has Art accepting an invitation to the inferior ATP Challenger Tour to get a confidence-boosting winning streak going.
Meanwhile, Patrick, with a disappointing career, is out of cash, sleeping in his car, but back in the fray and also registers to play in the tournament, looking to beat his former friend in the finals. He’d love to beat his former friend and impress Tashi, whom he is still in love with.
Watching “Challengers,” I kept being reminded of David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” which also had shifting timelines, a brilliantly pulsating electronic score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and stylishly vibrant direction. If Aaron Sorkin was the brainchild of ‘Social Network,’ then here, in the highly absorbing “Challengers,” screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes is the star.
Kuritzkes imposes on the film so many chyrons, flashbacks and flash forwards, the drama cutting back and forth in time (“Three Years Earlier,” “Eight Years Earlier,” “Two Days Ago” etc), that attention needs to be paid at every frame. The fact that “Challengers” ends up being so infectiously entertaining is a testament to Kuritzkes’ ballsy vision and trust of the audience.
It’s not just Kuritzkes, or Guadagnino’s stylish frames or even the brilliant score, but the three main actors are just so damn good here. Zendaya, whom I’ve never been particularly attracted to, is very sexy as Tashi. It might be the best performance of her career — she’s intimidating, domineering and playful, all at once.
Faist and O’Connor feed off of her energy, they are the poor little puppies who had the misfortune of falling in love with her. They just couldn’t help it.
Josh O'Connor is lethally sexy as well. I know a star when I see one. Between this film and Alice Rohrwacher’s recently released “La Chimera,” his on-screen charisma is highly appealing.
It should noted that all three actors trained two hours per day for months to play convincing Tennis. And it shows. Zendaya, in particular, looks like she’s ready to take on Serena Williams at her prime.
The tennis scenes are incredibly shot. Amidst the constantly changing timelines, there’s one match that the film keeps going back to, and it’s also the climax of the film, little by little its development just gets spread around throughout the film. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom just shoots the hell out of this film — it’s bold stuff, filled with brashness, quickly switching up the camera angles at every turn. Kinetic is the right word to describe his work here.
“Challengers” feels like an impressionistic painting. It’s a glorious mess of a film, and one that just can’t help itself in sheer abundance. And yet, in the sheer excess of it, it turns out to be an immensely entertaining film. [B+]