The latest production from the mind of visionary director, Luca Guadagnino, comes through the form of 'Challengers', a captivating story of love, betrayal, friendship, competition and lots and lots of sweat (audience included).
The story of this film follows three protagonists: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist). The three of them find themselves entangled in a three-way love affair, with Zweig and Donaldson both competing for the hand of Zendaya's Tashi.
In what seems like a production very much revolving around the competition of tennis and the highs and lows that may come with being successful in the sport, very quickly and clearly transforms into a story that focuses on a competition between two best friends, both desperately playing their part in a psychological tennis match of who gets the girl.
For those unfamiliar with Guadagnino's work will find themselves eager to catch up with his filmography after seeing this movie. The way that this film is directed and filmed takes the Italian filmmakers profession to a while new level, something that we were yet to see from the director.
Whilst Guadagnino's work tends to revolve around the idea of love and sex and passion, seeing the themes of sport and psychological competition thrown into the mix was something that he was yet to tackle. But the director passes with flying colours with 'Challengers' as the constant crossover between tennis and the pain-causing love triangle between our three protagonists is handled perfectly.
The leading cast for this film refuse to go unmentioned as this near-perfect trio of performances steal the show and provide us with arguably some of the best portrayals of the year. Zendaya has proved in the past that she isn a force not to be reckoned with and argues this point even more so as 'Tashi Duncan', the future Tennis star of the next generation who's life takes a drastic turn following a career-ending injury.
O'Connor and Faist place themselves right on the mantle next to Zendaya as Patrick and Art, the tennis due known as 'Fire and Ice', who's friendship, much like Tashi's career, takes a drastic turn when they stumble across the 18-year-old tennis prodigy and both begin devoting their time and efforts into impressing the girl of their dreams.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have both once again proven why they are one of the best at what they do with their work on the score for this film. It could be argued that the score and soundtrack to this movie play just as big a part as the trio of characters do. The clever intertwining of the bouncing of a tennis ball and modern-day club music throughout some of the most intense sequences of this film plays a vital role in building the suspense when it is called upon.
The creativity scattered throughout the original score in this film is supported by some amazing uses of camerawork, particularly during the intense tennis duels we see a number of times within the movie. When the tone is serious and the scene consists of two characters conversing, we see nothing but close-ups and single frames, but when there's a tennis ball involved the creativity of the camera work is taken to a whole new level and is certainly something we were yet to see within Guadagnino's filmography.
The heart and soul of this movie really stems from the impressive and significant original screenplay, produced by playwright and novelist Justin Kuritzkes. Whilst the writer is more significantly known for his work on the novel 'Famous People', it's fair to say that he will now become hot property in the world of filmmaking following his thrilling and exciting work on this film that is destined to entice the interest of producers.
Although from the outside looking in, this movie seems like a story that very much revolves around the idea of tennis and the dramatic highs and lows that come with being successful within that field, there is such a deeper root to this film that focuses on key themes such as love, betrayal, friendship and mental competition.
The main idea of this storyline priorities competition in sport and love both at the same level and intertwine each of them hand in hand throughout. Tennis is constantly used as a metaphor for the mental battle taking place between our three protagonists and plays a huge role in the outcome of their trio of scenarios throughout their tennis-playing careers.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10