Film Reviews: Challengers, The Fall Guy

 

Tennis is an intimate game. However many spectators and officials may be watching it’s a physical contest between two people and Challengers, the latest from Luca Guadagnino, definitely gets that. The whole film centres around a match in a lower rung tournament where former friends Art and Patrick find themselves at different points in their tennis careers. Art is a top player but on a losing run and pondering retirement, Patrick has passed his best (partly due to his own lack of discipline) and for him these events are a lifeline. The key connection between them is Tashi, who has dated them both but is now married to and coaching Art. It is her idea to make him play in an event that is really beneath his status. As the two players progress towards an invertible final match, we are privy to flashbacks charting the oscillating three way relationships between them over a period of thirteen years.

Call Me By Your Name review

The buzz about this film it is so loud that if, like me, you missed it at the cinema you probably have overly high expectations as to what to expect. It is true that the narrative- adapted from Andre Aciman’s novel- doesn’t really tell a new story but it does tell the most important story. It is simply about two characters who unexpectedly fall in love but whose relationship can never really pan out. Not a new scenario by any stretch yet rarely is it portrayed with a minimum of associated melodrama and overstated movie-isms.