Patrick D’s review published on Letterboxd:
At the intersection of competitive sports and sexual desire you’re likely to find a gleaming, toned athlete with some maturity issues. To put it another way: if winning a game is the activity when you feel the most alive, you’re apt to transpose winning into the various arenas of your life. Psychologically, it’s a recipe for disaster. Cinematically, it’s a lot of fun to watch.
Challengers is extremely entertaining. The tennis scenes get pumped with meaning as the story frantically jumps across time. Josh O’Connor and Zendaya arguing is better than any of the rallies on the court. The score and the camerawork are shamelessly flashy, but it works because subtlety isn't really an option for this film or the lives of its characters. The story exists within the confined and fraught space of the three leads’ love triangle, so it’s no surprise its best scenes mimic this dynamic by putting us in close confines with them: a dorm room, a sauna, the interior of a Honda CRV. Guadagnino is at full clip in a star-making sports drama—I look forward to seeing this many more times.
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