🎬 #180 Balls & Messy Relationships.
Next week, I promise, will be a return to the more stable two film format but for this week it’s one. I was a bit late to the party seeing this but I think my friend Pete summed it up well when he described it as ‘like a live-action Anime.’
Happy viewing,
Bry
FILM: CHALLENGERS
2024 Dir Luca Guadagnino
2 hours 11 mins
Seeing it, I knew what my friend meant instantly. From the very opening - a perfect track across a Tennis court into the face of Tashi [played by Zendaya], set to a propulsive score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - it has that high energy, constantly moving feel that’s a trope of Japanese animation. The shots in each of the key tennis moments are constructed within a hair’s breadth, as perfect as the movements or frames that you’d draw if you wanted that exact shot, or feel - or energy - I suppose.
Aside from the perfect orchestrated action shots on the court, there is that amazing score I mentioned. These guys can do no wrong, in my opinion, nailing every project they turn their hand to, sculpting the music in such a way that any other way seems wrong. I can’t imagine this film without the rush their music pumps into it.
In the scene above, the storm and resulting wind seems theatrical, illustrated even. The production design across the film has that feel, drawn rather than found in nature, a perfect designed - advertising world, that is bright, colourful - attractive. But then amongst this very attractive world, you’ve got a frayed relationship and a unique power struggle where competition on the court sweeps onto the heart and back again. It’s light-hearted, sexy fun at its best.
* Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and UK.
Fact: The writer, Justin Kuritzkes, is the husband of Celine Song who wrote and directed Past Lives.