Is your seat wet? Do you feel hot and bothered? Perhaps someone who told you about Challengers was just in your presence. The overhyped tennis drama supposedly had audiences feeling randy when it was in theatres, and I’m glad I missed the orgy. At home, I was able to have my solo experience. Director Luca Guadagnino is a boundary pushing contemporary chasing that auteur status where his name on a film excites fans. he’s almost there, and I think if he was known for more than Call Me By your Name, he would be. Most people are less aware of his broader filmography. For me, his romantic peach drama isn’t even my favorite work of his. That would be the unlikely Bones And All, which truly shocks me as I normally am repulsed by cannibal films, but found the story and the performances oddly compelling.Considering that was his last film before Challengers, and all the hype, I was so ready for this. Challengers was basically the first movie to remove itself out of awards season due to the strikes, which made me even more interested until it landed an April date.Then, I became convinced it had less to do with its Oscar prospects, and more to do with Zendaya’s availability to promote the movie.
I think that this isn’t quite the erotic sexual piece some have overhyped, but rather an exploration of obsession and the drive for perfectionism and the costs of that pursuit. When we see Mark (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor), they are promising young tennis stars, and friends. Both of them pale in comparison to female tennis icon Tashi (Zendaya), who has achieved a broader brand recognition for herself, and the adoration of both boys. While neither of the boys are tennis superstars, they both pursue Tashi, and there in lies the obsession off the court. Both men like the same girl, and as the film begins, we do see that she’s with one of them, but the film plays with the possibilities, and shifts the timeline to show the past and shape the dynamics these three characters find themselves entangled in. Before long, the boys don’t realize that while their obsession is Tashi, her obsession is tennis. And it is that drug that fuels her choices in interactions with them, lobbing shots back and forth and pushing both men to be better tennis players. These men are committed, without fully understanding why, believing that their connection to Tashi is real, and that Tashi ultimately has no desire beyond tennis.
This is best highlighted in even a small moment, when her child (who is not featured that much), asks her if they can watch Spider-Man together, and she’s too engrossed in watching Tennis, and can’t seem to pull herself away to spend even a little bit of time with her kid. Tashi isn’t selfish, she’s driven, she’s obsessed, and she uses these men to fuel her addiction to tennis by pushing them both to their limits.
The sound mixing here is fantastic on the court. It might be an Oscar contender there, surely likely to make the short-list, but where it needs to earn its Oscar nomination is for Best Editing, because these tennis scenes are frequent, and pulsating, full of quick cuts to fully bring you in on the match. This isn’t film, this is tennis. Even people who only have a passing knowledge of the sport should enjoy this obsessive tale.
Zendaya continues to add more work to her strong resume, but she has such a hard time finding a film role to truly top what she achieved in Euphoria. both men are good, but it would be nearly impossible to pick one over the other. Their screentime is extremely comparable, and they deal with a lot of the same issues. There’s a soundtrack here that I heard a lot of critics complaining in theatres caused them to not hear the dialog. At home, I heard it perfectly. So, I win. Mwahahaha.
What I Look For In The Audio Description: I think this film has a disservice done by marketing it as the horniest film of the year, because other films really top this, but it does have this obsessive angle, which often turns physical. Highlighting those moments, will help. However, aside from just generally supporting the acting performances, there’s these tennis matches that are expertly shot, using different camera angles, almost making you feel like you are the ball, and figuring out how to add that to the film will make it feel more cinematic. While race defines some of the characters, and could easily be defined in character breakdowns, this is not a film about race. So, I would like to see it, but it isn’t imperative. I just don’t want to assume everyone knows in the blind community what Zendaya looks like. Costumes are nice, but this film does benefit from being ultra-current, and not a time capsule. I would say, choosing the right narrator here could also shape that angle of whether or not this is the horniest movie of the year.
What It Does: There’s certainly some effort given to the tennis scenes to bring out the style that Guadagnino brings to the court, but it is always hard to tell if it is enough. I didn’t think the film was sexy, nor was I ever turned on like half of the people on social media. Part of that can be in the writing, and the words used, part can be that the film’s script is less about the act of pleasure and more about the drive to achieve it. It also could be that William Michael Redman is such an odd choice for narrator. I love this guy, and I’d put him on a horror title any day of the week. I also think he’s great in action films, and even thrillers. But this? He’s an odd choice. It’s the kind of choice that suggests no one actually thought about it, and they just have a list of preferred vocal talent, and William was available. We are at a point where these studios are starting to play around with AI description, and the best case we can make for audio description staying human is that it doesn’t just provide simple accessibility at the bare minimum level, but reminding Hollywood that film is an art form, and while audio description is a service, it can also be complimentary of the piece, assisting a blind viewer in being able to enjoy the experience through thoughtful voice casting that works best for each project. Otherwise, narrators like Redman might get replaced by a synthetic representation of humanity. That definitely will make no one horny.
Final Thoughts: Deluxe and Redman aren’t bad audio description, and the film is strong, but I think people get the wrong idea about it. It does continue to push Guadagnino forward as an auteur of note, but at the same time, I’m not sure he topped himself. I’m not sure anyone here did. That doesn’t mean it is bad by any means, but it does make it unlikely you’ll see much of it in the awards race at the end of the year.
Final Grade: A-