Challengers was supposed to officially kick off Pride Month before June, but what a disappointment.
The bar was high for Luca Guadagnino, and expectations were even higher. In Call Me by Your Name, Guadagnino achieved a feat many filmmakers never do when adapting books. He captured first love from a queer lens almost perfectly. The film had its flaws, but this is not the forum.
Challengers is naturally supposed to surpass Call Me by Your Name, but it barely comes close in portraying queerness.
The film feels fresh and energetic but does not break any new ground. It’s okay not to break any new ground, but no one remembers such films.
Trend Forecasters On the Big Screen
Challengers has a lot going for it, without which it would not be half as successful as it is. The power lies in the cast, Zendaya especially. She cements herself as a great talent if that is not clear from her work in Euphoria, where she commanded scenes without uttering a line.
Her two white boys match the energy, and when they can’t, they try to keep up, but they do okay. Separately, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist have proven that they are also talented, but if you truly want to see their range, check out God’s Own Country (it’s very gay) for O’Connor and West Side Story (gay, not) for Faist.
Guadgnino pushes them hard, but they don’t seem to reach their limits, which is great. Their chemistry is vibrant, and their performance as tennis players is great.
The film benefits greatly from how it is shot.
i. Make it fast
Sports can be boring. Films cannot. While sports can afford the luxury because of time, a film doesn’t. Guadgnino ensures that he doesn’t waste the viewer’s time with unnecessary gameplay and takes them right into the action.
The result is electrifying gameplay that would make someone who’s never interacted with tennis think it’s always that fun.
ii. The gay director’s gaze
Many films have not been made that explicitly look at male leads as perfectly desirable sexual objects. Why do male superheroes wear tight costumes but a cape that sweeps the floor?
Guadagnino goes all out on this, shooting the guys in skimpy attire, making them emotionally vulnerable, and grabbing shots of their asses in a way no heterosexual director would think of.
iii. We need Trent and Atticus
By now, the score has become iconic. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross bring an electrifying sound that elevates the film and primes the audience for scenes.
Saturday Night Live parodied this score in the 2024 episode hosted by Dua Lipa. Speaking of SNL, it turns out Reznor and Atticus are not the first people to do it. Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang had a Trend Forecasters skit, which utilized an energetically charged score to elevate the skit.
Let’s just hope it doesn’t get overdone.
‘Challengers’, Where’s The Gay?
MGM heavily marketed Challengers as a love triangle between the leads. It’s not.
The script succeeded in fleshing out Art and Patrick’s friendship, which is atypical in most male circles but is not unheard of.
Some friends can become quite close, but nothing romantic or sexual is in the cards. Art and Patrick’s friendship is competitive as they try to outscore each other or get the same girl.
There’s nothing gay in gooning over the same girl as your buddy.
But they kissed!
Kissing does not indicate any interest in the other person. Given the circumstances, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing between friends who never back down from a challenge, especially if it involves each other.
In their separate lives, there’s a hint that Patrick might be bisexual as he can be seen swiping on men and women in a dating app. He even looks at a naked guy with some desire, but nothing happens between them. It can be easy to say that the profile was not actually a man’s, or he had to look somewhere in that locker room.
Ultimately, Challengers leaves the viewer with tastefully done scenes, some homoerotic undertones, but nothing explicitly gay.
‘Challengers’ vs Callbacks
The story unfolds nonlinearly, which might work great if it weren’t so intertwined. There are several callbacks to past conversations; if someone had not been paying extra attention, they would miss the climax.
One such callback is the ball in the middle of the racquet, upon which understanding the final match hinges. But to fully understand the stakes in the game, you must also remember that Tashi said at some point, a match stops being a game and turns into a relationship where you’re in love or don’t exist.
The film relies on metaphors to a fault, and it might lose a casual viewer who knows nothing about tennis, can’t keep up with the callbacks, and doesn’t see anything gay in it. It might be too complex for people who want to have a fun time in a theatre.
Challengers might benefit from a second viewing that would make someone appreciate the story more, but it won’t be gayer the second time. Anything past that, go to bed bitch!
Entertainment: 8/10
Gayness: 2/10