Challengers2024

tension, competition, grunts, sweat. Are we still talking about tennis? Luca Guadagnino crafts a movie that is dripping with sensuality. The compelling relationships problems are resolved in the tennis court. It’s a love triangle where the competition can be literal sport, so there’s no way to tell where one ends and the other starts. How a musical goes to song to express the lives of its characters, the tennis match is the place for the dramatization of love life problems. And who knew there were so many interesting ways of filming tennis? The camera here is alive, you won’t be able to miss it. It’s different every time. There were moments in the theater it felt like the ball could actually hit me. With the non-linear storytelling, every single gesture becomes layered with meaning. And we slowly learn everything that is making the match we start the movie with be as intense as it is. There is one gesture done by one of the players that almost made me audibly gasp.