The tennis match that begins, ends, and provides the central narrative framework for Challengers, the vibrant new film from director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Bones and All, Suspiria) at first strikes the viewer as implausibly high-stakes for a match at a shabby New Rochelle, New York, tournament called the Phil’s Tire Town Challenger. Two fiercely competitive male players, filmed in close-ups so tight that the beads of sweat flying off their faces seem to be the size of marbles, slam the ball back and forth as if vying for world-champion status, while a rapt crowd watches with the side-to-side head swivels that make audiences at tennis tournaments appear to be under hypnosis. (Over the course of the movie to come, Guadagnino will slyly play that swiveling motion for both suspense and laughs.) In the midst of the crowd sits a chic young woman who looks especially engaged with the volley in progress. She locks in on the motion of the ball in play as if its every thwack could decide her fate—which, as the rest of Challengers will show via a series of intricately nested flashbacks, is pretty much the case, thanks to decisions she and the men on the tennis court have made over 13 shared years of friendship, enemy-ship, and love.
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