Challengers

“I’m taking such good care of my little white boys.”Luca Guadagnino, you fucking rule. So fucking amazing how he manages to make a movie about TENNIS so entertaining and genuinely delightful. I want a film about golf to happen right now.   First off, Zendaya and her little white boys who she takes care off, Mike Faist and Josh O’ Connor are phenomenal in this film and bring so much emotion and nuance to these characters that are written perfectly by Justin Kuritzkes with tight dialogue and great world building in the space of tennis. With this being Zendaya’s first solo-lead role, she is amazing for her first one, which just raises the question of why the fuck it took Hollywood this long for this to happen to her? Secondly, Sayombhu Mukdeeproms cinematography is in itself it’s own character in the film and one of its leads. Especially prevalent in the 2019 New Rochelle Final between Ant and Patrick, Sayombhu becomes so inventive with his craft, presenting our point of view inside the tennis ball used in the best rally of the match, swiping between both athletes, the use of slow-mo’s with the sweat dripping off their faces is so FUCKING HOT, MORE I WANT MORE GIVE ME MORE HOT TWINKY WHITE BOYS and placing the camera under the court and using the effect of the boys playing above and showing the ball bouncing is fucking beautiful. Overall, Guadagnino and Zendaya have delivered on Challengers, hopefully leading to more collaborations between the two (akin to Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos) and better films to come.