Guys I understand it's annoying that I pronounce words wrong - but I'm from Canada, I have a Canadian accent, and I don't speak Spanish at all. I'm obviously not trying to offend anyone - that is legitimately how I've always heard Y Tu Mamá También pronounced in the anglicized way. I'm not able to slip into a perfect Spanish accent mid-video.
i think a lot about the audre lorde essay about the uses of the erotic-specifically the contrast between eroticism and pornography. we've become so used to the manufactured perfection of pornographic bodies in our current age, from the normalization of plastic surgery to obsessive wellness culture. the current age is one where bodies are objects for looking, not people capable of desire. and i think thats what challengers does well. we see art reaching for tashi, holding onto patrick-his desire made manifest. guadagnino also focuses on the ways their bodies are flawed: tashi's knee surgery scar, art's bruises on his arms, patricks bruises in the crook of his elbow. we are shown the imperfections first, and then are shown how the desire exists. because of that physicality of their bodies, we are able to see the bodies first as erotic. i can easily see this movie in the hands of a different director becoming trite-the erotic decisions switched for pornographic ones, losing the threads of the story that make it so compelling.
This. I was looking through his whole filmography the other day and that man truly had an (un)holy run of erotic thrillers from the late 80s through the mid 90s
A generation of moviegoers have been brought up on superhero films where the characters keep it totally professional and platonic. Nobody even WANTS to f**k onscreen anymore due to these movies needing to play all over the world and for people of all ages. I was bummed we would never see any eroticism on film again, but Guadagnino understands that eroticism is about so much more than sex. In this age of instant pornography, we need more than ever to be reminded what desire is.
love when I read a comment that perfectly expresses why I loved something so as much as I did. everything about this film lives in my head but the passion, desire and intensity, in particular are something I'll just never forget. I want more of it
In the week after I saw Challengers I spent 80% of my time talking about Challengers, and 20% hoping someone would bring it up so I could talk about it more 😳.
Challengers understands that eroticism comes from the desire for release. The longer you edge the character's desires and wind up the tension between them tighter and tighter the more we just want to see the pretty people on the movie screen "play tennis"
What's remarkable is how young people today are so bereft of libidinal desire that they don't even care about the release. As Broey said, the film works for young people today because it is all about the buildup of erotic tension. Earlier generations had that built into them and they were looking to release. I'm so glad I was a kid in the 90s. We still had taboos back then, and as a result of those "forbidden fruits", everything tasted MUCH better. Today's kids teeth right into bronhup and as a result they are as flaccid as grandmas tatas.
Challengers "climax" closely resembles Whiplash where the tension is built and built and built to an impossible degree, only to end with that fleeting moment of release. For that film, it's a nod of approval, here it's the hug and the scream of satisfaction. I think both films bounced between love and resentment; acceptance and domination; admiration and envy.
I think Tashi tells Art that "she will leave him if he loses" that final match, mostly because that's what she thinks he is expecting to hear from her... but I don't believe she has literally decided for sure that she would leave him. They have a complex dynamic, where she only _seems_ to want him when he's at his most competitive and most hungry to win, and he _seems_ like he just wants her to love him regardless of winning... but on some level they don't actually want to _get_ what they want, because they know they need the pursuit. Ever since the first time the 3 of them met, Tashi and Art seemed to have an unspoken understanding about their approach to life. You can see it in the looks they give each other on the beach when Patrick is asking her about college. To be honest, their dynamic reminds me of a part in Contrapoints' video about Twilight: "The masochist says 'Hurt me,' and the sadist replies... 'No.'" lol. It's not exactly like that, just made me think of it.
21:18 About the grunting being almost exaggerated: my dad is a huge tennis fan so I overhear tennis matches on TV all the time and let me tell you, the grunts in Challengers are not exaggerated in the slightest, tennis players sound exactly like that if not worse (no matter the gender, but I feel like men are louder..although it might be because their vocal cords carry sound further idk)
imo art is as much a femme fatale as tashi and patrick are. so basically, "challengers" is what happens if you put a femme fatale and 2 homme fatales in the same room. it's just not very obvious with art, because he isn't really sultry or seductive, the way the stereotypical femme fatale is, or the way tashi and patrick are. but the thing with femme fatales, is that they don't necessarily have to be all about sultriness or seductiveness. they can also use their charm and beauty to get what they want or get others to make bad decisions. art uses his boyishness (dare I say, "babygirl"-ness) to mask his unsavory traits and to make his intentions murky, all to get what he wants. while tashi targets art and patrick; patrick targets strangers and the donaldsons, art mainly targets tashi at her most vulnerable moment (and when they get married), as well as the audience, bringing in a fourth wall element. there is a reason why zendaya tells people to rewatch the film and pay close attention to art's actions. his character is that by design. and circling back to the femme fatale and sexuality, even if it's not part of his personality outright, art does use his sexuality, as an adult. he is arguably the most visually sexualized character and he weaponizes his sexuality as means of asserting dominance during his tennis matches, as well as the sauna scene.
Very good observation! Art is a manipulator just like Tashi and Patrick but he doesn't do it as overtly as them. His use of the sick/dead grandma to get Patrick and Tashi to do what he wants is a good parallel. Also he knows to pick his battles: we learn that he knew about the Patrick and Tashi hook-up since the moment it happened in Atlanta but he never brought it up to her. He knew that may have pushed her to break their engagement and he wanted to win the points that matter: accept Tashi's affair as long as she married him. Also he pushes Tashi to tell him she would leave him if he doesn't beat Patrick. He is pushing her to break up with him because he's tired of tennis and he doesn't want the failure of their marriage to fall on him. This also pushes Tashi to seek out Patrick to try to convince him to throw the match so she doesn't has to leave Art. I've also seen some people comment that Patrick is the most innocent one because he lives in poverty, but we learn from Tashi that that's a performance he's making because he can go back at anytime to his wealthy family when the whole tennis thing ends. He also uses the last card he has in his pocket (telling Art Tashi cheated with him) when Art is about to beat him. So he's not an innocent guy either
Fascinating take, but interesting that you didn't find the final scene satisfying. Maybe it's because I used to play a lot of tennis and could follow the scoring (it was as tight as a match could possibly be; I've played in crazy matches like this) or because I'm a cinema nerd and the technique and huge amount of coverage and editing was dazzling (almost like Hitchcock in Psycho's shower scene) and I love the Reznor/Ross music so much too. But to me that final scene was the perfect ending. That final match, that WAS the s3xual consummation, the perfect tennis that Tashi was describing before their threesome scene when Art asks her why she screamed. This, for the three of them, in spite of their having drifted apart and hating each other and their division and resentment and their egos and their careers getting in the way, is actually the achievement of the super-orgasmic, better than s3x perfect tennis. Tashi can't do it herself anymore due to her knee. She has to experience it vicariously through Art, and Art doesn't play well enough any more. Art is so mad at Patrick he doesn't even want to play tennis with him any more and is so tired of the pressure he wants to retire, but he doesn't want to lose Tashi. Patrick has ruined his own career and life and has nothing else to lose; this is his last chance to be a part of Tashi and Art's lives. And so it comes together in one big, high stakes match where they are both motivated to play their absolute peak, with their future and life decisions hanging in the balance. And they play the best tennis of their lives, essentially make Tashi vicariously climax, and the boys end up together in a sweaty, exhausted embrace. Obviously a metaphor for s3x, for Tashi, better than s3x, so it seems strange to me to say that the whole movie is edging without release (this is the release) or, like the author of that piece, to complain that we don't know who won the game (all three of them did, they all achieved a simultaneous better-than-s3x climax that brought them back together; who won the set is obviously irrelevant, the filmmakers are telling us).
THIS. "We don't know for sure who won the match :(" - who in the world cares? It doesn't fucking matter! That's the whole point! That critic isn't the only person I've seen complain about this and it still escapes me how someone can watch the movie and think the winner is significant. We spend the whole movie learning about how real tennis isn't about winning (Art) or playing for the sake of it (Patrick), but about always playing for the best game of your life (Tashi). And the prize is the brief moment of connection with an opponent who also understands it. AND THEN WE GET IT. And then we get their understanding that what they're looking for isn't about winning a rivalry at all! Boom-boom, a narrative climax and an emotional climax, one after the other. EVERYONE wins. Everyone gets what they wanted. It's a group fucking orgasm, and it's *so* satisfying.
Creating a triangular image separating the two men with Zendaya in the middle is a GENIUS thumbnail idea and I wish I’d thought of it for my video on Challengers 😂
Challengers had me walking out of the theater in shaking legs, I literally almost fell while going down the stairs out of my seat, my heart was racing and I accidentally bruised my friend's arm from gripping it so hard during the whole movie. I couldn't stop repeating the word "cinema" like the Martin Scorsese meme
i never thought about the movie as edging the viewer but it’s definitely the right word for it considering i went to see it three more times within the next week when i first watched it… an addictive neverending buildup i also think what made it addictive was the characters’ own constant repression (which seemed it would only be released if all three of them got together) … every insight into their psyches thru small gestures or expressions felt exciting and important and every time i rewatched i felt like i noticed or understood something new to derive erotic meaning from
“We get it…Art is a bottom” Girl! Jokes aside, this movie just brought my lívido to its highest degree, I went to watch the movie alone and exited the cinema with my legs shaking and disturbed by how turn on it got me. The tennis match acting as a metaphor for sex? EXACTLY, the grouching noises, the drops of sweat, the glowing bodies and body movements scream sex to anyone’s faces. I haven’t felt this excited and literally UTTERLY anxious in the best way possible after watching a movie. Luca Guadanigno is in his bag and I am seated AF
I think there can be something said about the alignment of this delayed gratification and yearning and queer identity. There is an inherent queerness to the film that is exacerbated by its reluctance to portray “actual” sex, almost in a nod to the Hayes code and homoerotic invisibility in film, continuing into the first instance of this erotic thriller era, and the implication that queer sex and relationships are not real.
@tonimashdane33498 youve been complaining about all the other comments talking about things you dont like, be the change you want to see! start the conversation yourself, talk about your favorite technical/formalist decisions within the movie! People will join you in discussion if you approach in good faith, but complaining that a comment someone made about the core themes (or "talking about sex" as you phrased it) isnt going to start a discussion, its just going to frustrate the other commenters and make them feel condescended to.
The fact that the tennis matches are the s3x scenes is such an interesting point and I didn't even think of it but it makes so much sense! Lately I've been listening a lot to You Must Remember This' Erotic 80s/90s series and I'm discovering so many good movies! It also made me realized that one of the reasons why I LOVED Nocturnal Animals was that, in a way, it can also be considered as an erotic thrillers. I really hope we get more movies in this genre. I need some queer versions of it!
It really is! So far You Must Remember This and What Went Wrong are my favourite movie podcast. I just love to learn more about the behind the scenes of Hollywood productions.
Oh goodness. Gonna play devil's advocate, but something about this just felt so goofy to me. Maybe it reminded me of the overuse of drone footage in action films, but because the final scene was just way too played out, it just felt like the final straw that made me go "just get it over with!". Broey talks about this whole sequence basically being an edging scene, and yeah, I think they overdid it.
@tonimashdane33498 if that’s what you took away from my comment, then I guess you must have REALLY loved that ending. I just think the sequence could have been twice as effective if it was half as long. Or maybe I hate movies, or something.
@tonimashdane33498 come on man no need to be like that. some things work for people and some dont, thats the nature of art. You dont love film more or better because you enjoyed something someone else didnt. We're all choosing to watch broeys channel, everyone here appreciates the art of cinema in their own ways.
Fantastic take on this movie. I love how far reaching your analysis goes with connections to cultural mindsets and reactions to erotic thrillers. I honesly hadn't even considered Challenegers under this lens. Always appreciate you going so far beyond a movie being good/bad and finding ways to bring the viceral audience reaction into the material being discussed.
idk if you'll see this comment but the movie resembles so much of the anime "Ping Pong" which happens to be my fav TV Show: the scores are incredibly similar, the ending is thematically close, a lot of things honestly down to shots following the ball back and forth. i dont consider this copying at all cus the movie is uniquely its own and also DAMN it was awesome to see that vibe live-action.
The only thing you got wrong is that I firmly believe art is not a bottom and Patrick is Giddy at the idea of Art dominating him. Patrick is a bratty bottom 101.
I'd argue they're both bottoms. People talk about a villain but my take is they're all toxic and their relationship only works when all three are involved. In both relationships, Tashi is clearly the dominant partner (non sexually speaking) and the partner with the most power. Tashi is the top. I agree about Patrick being a bratty bottom, or at least adult Patrick is, I think younger Patrick is uncomfortable with the idea of being submissive sexually. It's paralelled by him not wanting Tashi to coach him and him saying he's just as good a player as she is, because he's not willing to cede power to her. When we see him ask her to coach him later in the film that's him showing he's willing to let her have control, but he also knows asking her to coach him now will likely piss her off and he enjoys that aspect of it too - because he's a brat.
I think Art didn't know his power when he was young and lets Patrick not only push him around but also humiliate him (which Patrick frames as friendly jokes like telling the girl that Art is obsessed with that he was a sexually inexperienced guy that ejaculates prematurely and that owes his sex education to Patrick). Art starts discovering his power in college with the way that he snaked his way into separating Patrick and Tashi and ending up marrying and having a child with Tashi. In the sauna scene we see how the dynamic between Art and Patrick has shifted and not only Art stands up to Patrick but he is the one that humiliates Patrick. We see later in the conversation with Art and Tashi that his bravado was superficial and he is definitely afraid that he won't be able to beat Patrick. When Art was about to beat Patrick, Patrick pulls the card that he still holds that can still humiliate Art. He temporarily rattles Art like he did when they were young, but Art then gets fired up and is able to get in the zone with Patrick and share that transcendental experience that Tashi talked about. I definitely agree that Patrick is giddy at the idea of Art dominating him after the sauna scene and after that final hug. Art still has some work to do accepting his repressed sexuality, but I can definitely see him topping Patrick out of anger
In Challengers, kissing never looks like a magazine photo. There is a type of realism in that, because real peoplr do not have to move their hair or pose so you can get a good angle. In a sense, the posed and titillating content is the sanitized stuff, and the abrupt and embarassing content is portraying bodies, lives and love the way they really are.
Girl I am so happy someone else saw Y tú mamá también, like I legit thought I dreamed it until I saw Diego Luna in Rogue One and was able to find it again 😂😂😂 honestly is super interesting to see you analyze it along with challengers and see the contrasting styles and relationship dynamics despite a similar set up.
I saw it four times in the cinema and once at home so this video has made my day😂 Been waiting for people to make full essays on this movie and not just reviews!
My favourite movie as a kid was Road to El Dorado. My favourite TV show is Devilman Crybaby and my favourite movie now is Challengers. By favourite, I would more so say guilty pleasure. I’ve rewatched all of these recently because despite being completely different in many aspects, these three pieces of media seem similar to me. I’ve concluded that this dynamic is my favourite - two opposite men in appearance of personality, maybe friends but maybe more if the opportunity presented. In Challengers & RTE, a female love interest involved perceived as a villain. An involvement of sport, themes of friendship, jealousy and love. In Challengers and DMCB, the use of loud music that seems too loud for the scene at hand, heavy handed foreshadowing that only becomes obvious the second watch, and an ending that ties back to previous events. But I think the thing that really ties it together for me is what you’ve described here; the use of eroticism as a tool for storytelling rather than shock value or entertainment. Great video as always ❤
The ending of Challangers is like when he’s getting so close to getting you off only suddenly to change his tempo or movement and you don’t climax 😭 Tashi yelling represents just how close it could’ve been.
God dammit now I actually have to hurry up and watch this movie cause I'm not about to skip a Broey video and I really don't want the movie spoiled. RIP my deadlines 😭
Can we talk about the scene that Tashi cradles Art after telling him she's gonna leave if he loses the match to the sound of Caetano Veloso singing "Pecado"?
All this helped me realize that my erotic awakening at around 10 years old watching matches between Steffi Graff and Monica Seles is not a coincidence, it actually did happen! Tennis is indeed so sexual. And the other thing I was watching back the was, uh, Formula 1. As a grown up I switched to entirely different sports.
Challenges never touched on race because Tashi/Zendaya is a light skinned skinny biracial woman who would have never faced the racism Serena or Venus faced.
know the video is about challengers but about y tu mama tambien is crazy how latino it is beauty, happiness and drama surrounded by melancholy is such a latin american vibe
16:16 I would argue it does, if only in subtle ways. In particular I think about the scene where they meet in the hotel room and the boys ask why her parents didn't put her in boarding school. There are other subtle moments but I think Princess Weekes video does a better job talking about the racializing of Tashi's character than I ever could
I think Tashi’s race is vital to her characterization and the way she becomes a more sympathetic femme fatale, as broey puts it, but it’s not a thematic focus of the movie. It has very little to say about race other than in service of making this compelling romantic dynamic, especially in contrast to the themes Y Tu Mama Tambien tries to evoke.
I wasn't planning on watching this film but now i think i will! Also if anybody is ever curious about the "You must remember this" podcast, you cannot go wrong checking it out. This is a decades long film critics who built her career out of analyzing cinema. Her insights are unparalleled and the the holistic historical context she brings to the background Weaves a perfect introduction to why the films mattered.
I think you might be over-simplifying the characters. There is nuance in there. Tashi did have something for Patrick as evident through her rebounding twice with him. The reason why she sloshes around tennis during their would be sex scene (Tashi and Patrick) is because Art got in her head by alluding that Patrick is unfaithful and doesn’t love her. They get into a heated argument where Patrick storms off. The dynamics of the characters in the love triangle reveals more context and subtext about the state of their relationships as we bounce back and forth from the present date, the showdown between Pat and Art in the challenger finals. Tashi doesn’t flat out give Art an ultimatum if he were to lose. She was telling him what he probably wanted to hear and she does asking him, “I’m serious; does that help you?” For most of the film, that pent-up frustration is release at the very end. Yeah, there was a lot of slow-mo, but I feel it was put there to give us a break from the rapid pace of their set. If anything, it reminds me of Whiplash where this film ends on a high. I agree that tennis becomes the surrogate for sex. Each are toxic for one another, but glad the film doesn’t malign any of them for it where the erotic thrillers would have prescribed a punishment for the “bad guy,” that was, more often than not, given to the female. The music and camera work/edits helped keep momentum had it been a dry subtle score and slower cuts, many would have clocked out early. I don’t think it was a thriller by any stretch but a thrilling drama with aspects that resemble that of the erotic thrillers of old. A more apt example was a film from the early 2000’s that was directed by the same director of Fatal Attraction. I did find it fascinating the intersection of conservatism and sexual fears and anxieties help make way for the genre in the 80s and 90s. I wonder if the easily democratization of sex has affected, perhaps, sexual fatigue on top of much recent anxieties. Or is there some hard line between private desires and entertainment 🤷♂️?
I'm sure I'm not alone in this but I watched the movie SOLELY because I wanted to hear your analysis of it. I'm pretty Offline these days (no social media presence) so I actually didn't see any of the trailers or lead up to the movie. I didn't even really know what it was about, and got whiplash from how hot and gay it was (though this is beside the point and I think I'm just still on the post-Challengers come down). All this to say, I enjoy your content so much it compelled me to spend over 2 hours watching a movie I knew nothing about just to hear you yap about it. And it did not disappoint!!! Thanks for another banger, Maia (& co.). Respectfully, your brain is so big and beautiful.
Challengers wasn’t my favorite, maybe I just didn’t “get it,” but the eroticism and feeling of romance and desire between the characters is similar to what I loved in Bones and All. For that, I appreciate it.
You know, there's a great series on Nebula that talks about sex in movies (as well as other taboo topics), it's really great, informative and, in some parts, disturbing (in an interesting way). If you liked this video, perhaps you guys should watch it!
I haven't read most of the comments, so I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this: It is also much closer to Whiplash -- which may also be read as a thriller under the framework used here. There's definitely a lot of danger, to be sure. The ending is very much like Whiplash --- though more abrupt. Still, you know the made good music on the court, and as a viewer you know all three of them knew it.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about your commentary about “Challengers” mostly because I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie but I loved the film score . Anyway, yes I agree we’re all yearning
hell ya i had to wait till i saw it to watch this one personally i thought after z screams she changed her expression and that was the answer/release people were looking for, that it didn’t actually matter who won in the same way nobody really wins in sex or relationships “tennis is relationships”
As an fan of De Palma, Adrian Lyne, Paul Verhoeven, and others, I find it bizarre that a film like Challenger is considered an "erotic thriller"; it's practically sexless, and I'm not referring to it being explicit, but rather how sanitized and safe it is in addressing desire.
wtf I have all notifications on for you and this did not show up in my notifications and neither did the previous one! I even just double checked and neither of them ever came up. I feel betrayed
I am glad to see I wasn't wrong for giving Deep Water a hard pass. Every time I saw a still or clip from the movie I would wonder if I was messing up. I also refused to watch Ben Affleck play Batman.
such a good series! i made a list of all the movies she mentioned from erotic 80s and 90s and i want to watch all the ones i havent seen. it's like 46 flims. i miss the erotic thriller so much even though challengers did not fully do it for me
I watched 'y tu mama tambien' when it came out, and now I'm a weird old gay person in a stable and loving poly relationship 😁 I also blame the song "Triad" by Jefferson Airplane, which I listened to as a kid and thought 'yep, seems logical! 😂
LMAOO if I hadn't already liked the video at the very beginning this 21:22 would have made me break my screen trying to click that thumbs up 😭 you ate that
The Wild Things factoid is acurate! I and my millenial freinds did secretly watch Wild Things, when we were children. I hadn't thought of this in years though ^^
Is Challengers worth watching for someone who has zero interest in tennis and sports in general? I stayed away from it because sports movies for me are more boring than watching paint dry but editorials like this have me interested.
challengers is wonderful and fun but it ended so self-indulgent and campy (you talked about this). Instead of show don't tell about all the cheating the movie both showed and telled, there was so much cheating I started judging all the dumb characters. And the prolonged montage of the 1 on 1 match with the boys, all the contrived tension when we know they love each other and it doesn't matter who wins, it ended more as a fun goofy sexy movie than a thriller
Guys I understand it's annoying that I pronounce words wrong - but I'm from Canada, I have a Canadian accent, and I don't speak Spanish at all. I'm obviously not trying to offend anyone - that is legitimately how I've always heard Y Tu Mamá También pronounced in the anglicized way. I'm not able to slip into a perfect Spanish accent mid-video.
Now pronounce "Parangaricutirimicuaro"
And Your Mother Too
Always think about it like that, people who only comment stuff like this are usually very insecure and unhappy, therefore love to point out mistakes.
I speak Portuguese, and even I disdain at that horrid lachlachlackxuallach language.
ur good
i think a lot about the audre lorde essay about the uses of the erotic-specifically the contrast between eroticism and pornography. we've become so used to the manufactured perfection of pornographic bodies in our current age, from the normalization of plastic surgery to obsessive wellness culture. the current age is one where bodies are objects for looking, not people capable of desire. and i think thats what challengers does well. we see art reaching for tashi, holding onto patrick-his desire made manifest. guadagnino also focuses on the ways their bodies are flawed: tashi's knee surgery scar, art's bruises on his arms, patricks bruises in the crook of his elbow. we are shown the imperfections first, and then are shown how the desire exists. because of that physicality of their bodies, we are able to see the bodies first as erotic. i can easily see this movie in the hands of a different director becoming trite-the erotic decisions switched for pornographic ones, losing the threads of the story that make it so compelling.
Have we considered that the erotic thriller went away simply because Michael Douglas aged out of starring in them?
This. I was looking through his whole filmography the other day and that man truly had an (un)holy run of erotic thrillers from the late 80s through the mid 90s
David Spader too 😞
Thats very agist 😠
Man, Basic Instinct still turns me on. Michael Douglas, take me away
His sex addiction didn't hurt his image either in terms of those movie choices
A generation of moviegoers have been brought up on superhero films where the characters keep it totally professional and platonic. Nobody even WANTS to f**k onscreen anymore due to these movies needing to play all over the world and for people of all ages. I was bummed we would never see any eroticism on film again, but Guadagnino understands that eroticism is about so much more than sex. In this age of instant pornography, we need more than ever to be reminded what desire is.
Luca replaced the peach with the banana.
Everyone is Beautiful And No One Is Horny.
@@crod9905 Excellent
@@crod9905 I loved that essay.
love when I read a comment that perfectly expresses why I loved something so as much as I did. everything about this film lives in my head but the passion, desire and intensity, in particular are something I'll just never forget. I want more of it
In the week after I saw Challengers I spent 80% of my time talking about Challengers, and 20% hoping someone would bring it up so I could talk about it more 😳.
It’s killing me that no one in my life has seen it 😅
Me too tbh
LITERALLY. saw it with a couple friends and the group chat was All Challengers All The Time for the next week
Mean girls
Literally me
Challengers understands that eroticism comes from the desire for release. The longer you edge the character's desires and wind up the tension between them tighter and tighter the more we just want to see the pretty people on the movie screen "play tennis"
just like a tennis racquet, the tighter the strings, the better the tension
In this age of instant porno, we need more than ever to be reminded of what desire means.
i believe this is the reason the soundtrack compliments it so well
What's remarkable is how young people today are so bereft of libidinal desire that they don't even care about the release. As Broey said, the film works for young people today because it is all about the buildup of erotic tension. Earlier generations had that built into them and they were looking to release. I'm so glad I was a kid in the 90s. We still had taboos back then, and as a result of those "forbidden fruits", everything tasted MUCH better. Today's kids teeth right into bronhup and as a result they are as flaccid as grandmas tatas.
Challengers "climax" closely resembles Whiplash where the tension is built and built and built to an impossible degree, only to end with that fleeting moment of release. For that film, it's a nod of approval, here it's the hug and the scream of satisfaction. I think both films bounced between love and resentment; acceptance and domination; admiration and envy.
Awesome comparison
totally
Ehh I feel like Whiplash had a more clear resolution though. Challengers just ends imo 🤷
Are you insane? Whiplash's climax is the drum solo.
I think Tashi tells Art that "she will leave him if he loses" that final match, mostly because that's what she thinks he is expecting to hear from her... but I don't believe she has literally decided for sure that she would leave him.
They have a complex dynamic, where she only _seems_ to want him when he's at his most competitive and most hungry to win, and he _seems_ like he just wants her to love him regardless of winning... but on some level they don't actually want to _get_ what they want, because they know they need the pursuit. Ever since the first time the 3 of them met, Tashi and Art seemed to have an unspoken understanding about their approach to life. You can see it in the looks they give each other on the beach when Patrick is asking her about college.
To be honest, their dynamic reminds me of a part in Contrapoints' video about Twilight: "The masochist says 'Hurt me,' and the sadist replies... 'No.'" lol. It's not exactly like that, just made me think of it.
Can you elaborate about what they were chasing? The look he gave her in beginning?
21:18 About the grunting being almost exaggerated: my dad is a huge tennis fan so I overhear tennis matches on TV all the time and let me tell you, the grunts in Challengers are not exaggerated in the slightest, tennis players sound exactly like that if not worse (no matter the gender, but I feel like men are louder..although it might be because their vocal cords carry sound further idk)
imo art is as much a femme fatale as tashi and patrick are. so basically, "challengers" is what happens if you put a femme fatale and 2 homme fatales in the same room. it's just not very obvious with art, because he isn't really sultry or seductive, the way the stereotypical femme fatale is, or the way tashi and patrick are.
but the thing with femme fatales, is that they don't necessarily have to be all about sultriness or seductiveness. they can also use their charm and beauty to get what they want or get others to make bad decisions. art uses his boyishness (dare I say, "babygirl"-ness) to mask his unsavory traits and to make his intentions murky, all to get what he wants.
while tashi targets art and patrick; patrick targets strangers and the donaldsons, art mainly targets tashi at her most vulnerable moment (and when they get married), as well as the audience, bringing in a fourth wall element. there is a reason why zendaya tells people to rewatch the film and pay close attention to art's actions. his character is that by design.
and circling back to the femme fatale and sexuality, even if it's not part of his personality outright, art does use his sexuality, as an adult. he is arguably the most visually sexualized character and he weaponizes his sexuality as means of asserting dominance during his tennis matches, as well as the sauna scene.
Very good observation! Art is a manipulator just like Tashi and Patrick but he doesn't do it as overtly as them. His use of the sick/dead grandma to get Patrick and Tashi to do what he wants is a good parallel. Also he knows to pick his battles: we learn that he knew about the Patrick and Tashi hook-up since the moment it happened in Atlanta but he never brought it up to her. He knew that may have pushed her to break their engagement and he wanted to win the points that matter: accept Tashi's affair as long as she married him. Also he pushes Tashi to tell him she would leave him if he doesn't beat Patrick. He is pushing her to break up with him because he's tired of tennis and he doesn't want the failure of their marriage to fall on him. This also pushes Tashi to seek out Patrick to try to convince him to throw the match so she doesn't has to leave Art. I've also seen some people comment that Patrick is the most innocent one because he lives in poverty, but we learn from Tashi that that's a performance he's making because he can go back at anytime to his wealthy family when the whole tennis thing ends. He also uses the last card he has in his pocket (telling Art Tashi cheated with him) when Art is about to beat him. So he's not an innocent guy either
Fascinating take, but interesting that you didn't find the final scene satisfying. Maybe it's because I used to play a lot of tennis and could follow the scoring (it was as tight as a match could possibly be; I've played in crazy matches like this) or because I'm a cinema nerd and the technique and huge amount of coverage and editing was dazzling (almost like Hitchcock in Psycho's shower scene) and I love the Reznor/Ross music so much too. But to me that final scene was the perfect ending. That final match, that WAS the s3xual consummation, the perfect tennis that Tashi was describing before their threesome scene when Art asks her why she screamed. This, for the three of them, in spite of their having drifted apart and hating each other and their division and resentment and their egos and their careers getting in the way, is actually the achievement of the super-orgasmic, better than s3x perfect tennis. Tashi can't do it herself anymore due to her knee. She has to experience it vicariously through Art, and Art doesn't play well enough any more. Art is so mad at Patrick he doesn't even want to play tennis with him any more and is so tired of the pressure he wants to retire, but he doesn't want to lose Tashi. Patrick has ruined his own career and life and has nothing else to lose; this is his last chance to be a part of Tashi and Art's lives. And so it comes together in one big, high stakes match where they are both motivated to play their absolute peak, with their future and life decisions hanging in the balance. And they play the best tennis of their lives, essentially make Tashi vicariously climax, and the boys end up together in a sweaty, exhausted embrace. Obviously a metaphor for s3x, for Tashi, better than s3x, so it seems strange to me to say that the whole movie is edging without release (this is the release) or, like the author of that piece, to complain that we don't know who won the game (all three of them did, they all achieved a simultaneous better-than-s3x climax that brought them back together; who won the set is obviously irrelevant, the filmmakers are telling us).
you must've loved Infinite Jest?
THIS.
"We don't know for sure who won the match :(" - who in the world cares? It doesn't fucking matter! That's the whole point!
That critic isn't the only person I've seen complain about this and it still escapes me how someone can watch the movie and think the winner is significant. We spend the whole movie learning about how real tennis isn't about winning (Art) or playing for the sake of it (Patrick), but about always playing for the best game of your life (Tashi). And the prize is the brief moment of connection with an opponent who also understands it. AND THEN WE GET IT. And then we get their understanding that what they're looking for isn't about winning a rivalry at all! Boom-boom, a narrative climax and an emotional climax, one after the other.
EVERYONE wins. Everyone gets what they wanted. It's a group fucking orgasm, and it's *so* satisfying.
@@karakanb3039 agreed. it's so weird to me to focus on the(technically) ''winner' of the match when it was never about the tennis in the first place?!
Agreed, I think it was a perfect ending.
Couldn't agree more
Creating a triangular image separating the two men with Zendaya in the middle is a GENIUS thumbnail idea and I wish I’d thought of it for my video on Challengers 😂
that's alll my podcast co-host Hannah!
Love how it also looks like the movie poster for Fatal Attration, very cool!! ❤
It’s also a shot in the movie, it’s insanely cool.
the sam levinson mention has me SCREAMING
There needs not be a crime or danger of dying for something to be a thriller.
Shiva Baby is fully a thriller and there's no crime.
Challengers had me walking out of the theater in shaking legs, I literally almost fell while going down the stairs out of my seat, my heart was racing and I accidentally bruised my friend's arm from gripping it so hard during the whole movie. I couldn't stop repeating the word "cinema" like the Martin Scorsese meme
asf
It wasn’t that deep cba
please relax
I love the internet
How to react to this?
"we live to yearn" -- sports edging is the best new genre! -- amazing analysis as always !!
What makes this even more perfect is that the writer is the potion seller guy
Are you kidding me?! That's incredible.
i never thought about the movie as edging the viewer but it’s definitely the right word for it considering i went to see it three more times within the next week when i first watched it… an addictive neverending buildup
i also think what made it addictive was the characters’ own constant repression (which seemed it would only be released if all three of them got together) … every insight into their psyches thru small gestures or expressions felt exciting and important and every time i rewatched i felt like i noticed or understood something new to derive erotic meaning from
“We get it…Art is a bottom” Girl! Jokes aside, this movie just brought my lívido to its highest degree, I went to watch the movie alone and exited the cinema with my legs shaking and disturbed by how turn on it got me. The tennis match acting as a metaphor for sex? EXACTLY, the grouching noises, the drops of sweat, the glowing bodies and body movements scream sex to anyone’s faces. I haven’t felt this excited and literally UTTERLY anxious in the best way possible after watching a movie. Luca Guadanigno is in his bag and I am seated AF
I think there can be something said about the alignment of this delayed gratification and yearning and queer identity. There is an inherent queerness to the film that is exacerbated by its reluctance to portray “actual” sex, almost in a nod to the Hayes code and homoerotic invisibility in film, continuing into the first instance of this erotic thriller era, and the implication that queer sex and relationships are not real.
@tonimashdane33498
youve been complaining about all the other comments talking about things you dont like, be the change you want to see! start the conversation yourself, talk about your favorite technical/formalist decisions within the movie! People will join you in discussion if you approach in good faith, but complaining that a comment someone made about the core themes (or "talking about sex" as you phrased it) isnt going to start a discussion, its just going to frustrate the other commenters and make them feel condescended to.
The fact that the tennis matches are the s3x scenes is such an interesting point and I didn't even think of it but it makes so much sense!
Lately I've been listening a lot to You Must Remember This' Erotic 80s/90s series and I'm discovering so many good movies! It also made me realized that one of the reasons why I LOVED Nocturnal Animals was that, in a way, it can also be considered as an erotic thrillers.
I really hope we get more movies in this genre. I need some queer versions of it!
It's such a good series!
It really is! So far You Must Remember This and What Went Wrong are my favourite movie podcast. I just love to learn more about the behind the scenes of Hollywood productions.
The tennis ball pov nearly made me hop up and down in the theater, great film.
Oh goodness. Gonna play devil's advocate, but something about this just felt so goofy to me. Maybe it reminded me of the overuse of drone footage in action films, but because the final scene was just way too played out, it just felt like the final straw that made me go "just get it over with!". Broey talks about this whole sequence basically being an edging scene, and yeah, I think they overdid it.
@tonimashdane33498 if that’s what you took away from my comment, then I guess you must have REALLY loved that ending. I just think the sequence could have been twice as effective if it was half as long. Or maybe I hate movies, or something.
@tonimashdane33498
come on man no need to be like that. some things work for people and some dont, thats the nature of art. You dont love film more or better because you enjoyed something someone else didnt. We're all choosing to watch broeys channel, everyone here appreciates the art of cinema in their own ways.
Your point about erotic thrillers being about the heightened emotions that come with sublimation, not specifically crime, is so so spot on!
Fantastic take on this movie. I love how far reaching your analysis goes with connections to cultural mindsets and reactions to erotic thrillers. I honesly hadn't even considered Challenegers under this lens. Always appreciate you going so far beyond a movie being good/bad and finding ways to bring the viceral audience reaction into the material being discussed.
I ADORE the fact that Pat is a "femme fatale"!
Videos like this remind me how underrated video essays are and how much more credit they should be given. This was such a good watch. Thank you!
I love Challengers its a great movie and the final scene was epic. We don´t need a "resolution" about anything we just need good cinema.
Amazing. I'll take ten more
idk if you'll see this comment but the movie resembles so much of the anime "Ping Pong" which happens to be my fav TV Show: the scores are incredibly similar, the ending is thematically close, a lot of things honestly down to shots following the ball back and forth. i dont consider this copying at all cus the movie is uniquely its own and also DAMN it was awesome to see that vibe live-action.
The only thing you got wrong is that I firmly believe art is not a bottom and Patrick is Giddy at the idea of Art dominating him. Patrick is a bratty bottom 101.
I'd argue they're both bottoms. People talk about a villain but my take is they're all toxic and their relationship only works when all three are involved. In both relationships, Tashi is clearly the dominant partner (non sexually speaking) and the partner with the most power. Tashi is the top.
I agree about Patrick being a bratty bottom, or at least adult Patrick is, I think younger Patrick is uncomfortable with the idea of being submissive sexually. It's paralelled by him not wanting Tashi to coach him and him saying he's just as good a player as she is, because he's not willing to cede power to her. When we see him ask her to coach him later in the film that's him showing he's willing to let her have control, but he also knows asking her to coach him now will likely piss her off and he enjoys that aspect of it too - because he's a brat.
I think Art didn't know his power when he was young and lets Patrick not only push him around but also humiliate him (which Patrick frames as friendly jokes like telling the girl that Art is obsessed with that he was a sexually inexperienced guy that ejaculates prematurely and that owes his sex education to Patrick). Art starts discovering his power in college with the way that he snaked his way into separating Patrick and Tashi and ending up marrying and having a child with Tashi. In the sauna scene we see how the dynamic between Art and Patrick has shifted and not only Art stands up to Patrick but he is the one that humiliates Patrick. We see later in the conversation with Art and Tashi that his bravado was superficial and he is definitely afraid that he won't be able to beat Patrick. When Art was about to beat Patrick, Patrick pulls the card that he still holds that can still humiliate Art. He temporarily rattles Art like he did when they were young, but Art then gets fired up and is able to get in the zone with Patrick and share that transcendental experience that Tashi talked about. I definitely agree that Patrick is giddy at the idea of Art dominating him after the sauna scene and after that final hug. Art still has some work to do accepting his repressed sexuality, but I can definitely see him topping Patrick out of anger
In Challengers, kissing never looks like a magazine photo. There is a type of realism in that, because real peoplr do not have to move their hair or pose so you can get a good angle. In a sense, the posed and titillating content is the sanitized stuff, and the abrupt and embarassing content is portraying bodies, lives and love the way they really are.
Yes I feel like it was shot directed costume design in a very realistic way
Read your article about Challengers & Blockbusters the other day! Glad you decided to make a whole vid about it.
SAW THAT NOTIFICATION AND MY DAY IS NOW BETTER😭been waiting for this one
Girl I am so happy someone else saw Y tú mamá también, like I legit thought I dreamed it until I saw Diego Luna in Rogue One and was able to find it again 😂😂😂 honestly is super interesting to see you analyze it along with challengers and see the contrasting styles and relationship dynamics despite a similar set up.
"All love triangles are inherently queer"
Berserk
Mr. Sunshine (2018)
I saw it four times in the cinema and once at home so this video has made my day😂 Been waiting for people to make full essays on this movie and not just reviews!
My favourite movie as a kid was Road to El Dorado. My favourite TV show is Devilman Crybaby and my favourite movie now is Challengers. By favourite, I would more so say guilty pleasure. I’ve rewatched all of these recently because despite being completely different in many aspects, these three pieces of media seem similar to me. I’ve concluded that this dynamic is my favourite - two opposite men in appearance of personality, maybe friends but maybe more if the opportunity presented. In Challengers & RTE, a female love interest involved perceived as a villain. An involvement of sport, themes of friendship, jealousy and love. In Challengers and DMCB, the use of loud music that seems too loud for the scene at hand, heavy handed foreshadowing that only becomes obvious the second watch, and an ending that ties back to previous events. But I think the thing that really ties it together for me is what you’ve described here; the use of eroticism as a tool for storytelling rather than shock value or entertainment. Great video as always ❤
The ending of Challangers is like when he’s getting so close to getting you off only suddenly to change his tempo or movement and you don’t climax 😭 Tashi yelling represents just how close it could’ve been.
God dammit now I actually have to hurry up and watch this movie cause I'm not about to skip a Broey video and I really don't want the movie spoiled. RIP my deadlines 😭
Can we talk about the scene that Tashi cradles Art after telling him she's gonna leave if he loses the match to the sound of Caetano Veloso singing "Pecado"?
All this helped me realize that my erotic awakening at around 10 years old watching matches between Steffi Graff and Monica Seles is not a coincidence, it actually did happen! Tennis is indeed so sexual. And the other thing I was watching back the was, uh, Formula 1. As a grown up I switched to entirely different sports.
Challenges never touched on race because Tashi/Zendaya is a light skinned skinny biracial woman who would have never faced the racism Serena or Venus faced.
Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN MENTIONEEEED
Mexico rise up ✊
Great film. Saw it with my dad. Had a good talk after.
@@vilutti lmao I cannot imagine
with a terrible pronounce but yeah lol
know the video is about challengers but about y tu mama tambien is crazy how latino it is beauty, happiness and drama surrounded by melancholy is such a latin american vibe
16:16 I would argue it does, if only in subtle ways. In particular I think about the scene where they meet in the hotel room and the boys ask why her parents didn't put her in boarding school. There are other subtle moments but I think Princess Weekes video does a better job talking about the racializing of Tashi's character than I ever could
I think Tashi’s race is vital to her characterization and the way she becomes a more sympathetic femme fatale, as broey puts it, but it’s not a thematic focus of the movie. It has very little to say about race other than in service of making this compelling romantic dynamic, especially in contrast to the themes Y Tu Mama Tambien tries to evoke.
God, I'd been searching for a way to word the feeling the movie gives and you're so right-it's edging
@tonimashdane33498 ???? what are you talking about??????? like genuinely how did you misinterpret what I was saying so badly???
The director of Fatal Attraction also directed the '97 Lolita, and for that he must face the Thunderdome
@tonimashdane33498 yea I'm OK with that
"what if we took the most famous unreliable narrator in literature and made him kind of a wistful dude"
I wasn't planning on watching this film but now i think i will! Also if anybody is ever curious about the "You must remember this" podcast, you cannot go wrong checking it out. This is a decades long film critics who built her career out of analyzing cinema. Her insights are unparalleled and the the holistic historical context she brings to the background Weaves a perfect introduction to why the films mattered.
been watching every challengers video i can get my hands on so this came at a perfect time
I saw this uploaded 52 Seconds!! Broey my bestieee, sorted for the night
I think you might be over-simplifying the characters. There is nuance in there. Tashi did have something for Patrick as evident through her rebounding twice with him. The reason why she sloshes around tennis during their would be sex scene (Tashi and Patrick) is because Art got in her head by alluding that Patrick is unfaithful and doesn’t love her. They get into a heated argument where Patrick storms off. The dynamics of the characters in the love triangle reveals more context and subtext about the state of their relationships as we bounce back and forth from the present date, the showdown between Pat and Art in the challenger finals. Tashi doesn’t flat out give Art an ultimatum if he were to lose. She was telling him what he probably wanted to hear and she does asking him, “I’m serious; does that help you?” For most of the film, that pent-up frustration is release at the very end. Yeah, there was a lot of slow-mo, but I feel it was put there to give us a break from the rapid pace of their set. If anything, it reminds me of Whiplash where this film ends on a high. I agree that tennis becomes the surrogate for sex. Each are toxic for one another, but glad the film doesn’t malign any of them for it where the erotic thrillers would have prescribed a punishment for the “bad guy,” that was, more often than not, given to the female. The music and camera work/edits helped keep momentum had it been a dry subtle score and slower cuts, many would have clocked out early. I don’t think it was a thriller by any stretch but a thrilling drama with aspects that resemble that of the erotic thrillers of old. A more apt example was a film from the early 2000’s that was directed by the same director of Fatal Attraction. I did find it fascinating the intersection of conservatism and sexual fears and anxieties help make way for the genre in the 80s and 90s. I wonder if the easily democratization of sex has affected, perhaps, sexual fatigue on top of much recent anxieties. Or is there some hard line between private desires and entertainment 🤷♂️?
exactly!! nobody understand that zendaya has much stronger attraction for patrick than art, being it romantic or sexual
'Femme Fat-ally'... I am stealing this even though you corrected it 18 seconds later. Great work on the essay!!!!
I'm sure I'm not alone in this but I watched the movie SOLELY because I wanted to hear your analysis of it. I'm pretty Offline these days (no social media presence) so I actually didn't see any of the trailers or lead up to the movie. I didn't even really know what it was about, and got whiplash from how hot and gay it was (though this is beside the point and I think I'm just still on the post-Challengers come down).
All this to say, I enjoy your content so much it compelled me to spend over 2 hours watching a movie I knew nothing about just to hear you yap about it. And it did not disappoint!!! Thanks for another banger, Maia (& co.). Respectfully, your brain is so big and beautiful.
this video is so much better than the movie...! thank you Broey!!
Challengers wasn’t my favorite, maybe I just didn’t “get it,” but the eroticism and feeling of romance and desire between the characters is similar to what I loved in Bones and All. For that, I appreciate it.
Great one! Thank you! 🙏
that’s literally it: challengers is a whole two hours of edging and i held my breath for almost as long
I really don’t care about tennis, but Challengers made it look awesome and thrilling.
Trent Reznor was the perfect choice for the soundtrack. Nine Inch Nails were always gods of tension & release.
*I went into this movie expecting a steamy threes0me* and left surprisingly gay.. probably some of the best marketing I’ve seen for a movie EVER.
Man I can't wait for the next SUNPTUOUSLY SHOT movie about rich people and their sexuality
You know, there's a great series on Nebula that talks about sex in movies (as well as other taboo topics), it's really great, informative and, in some parts, disturbing (in an interesting way). If you liked this video, perhaps you guys should watch it!
Thanks for not adding the name of the series so we can all go watch it 😀👍
@@jaimejones1153 its a joke. its broey's show called taboo on nebula.
I haven't read most of the comments, so I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this: It is also much closer to Whiplash -- which may also be read as a thriller under the framework used here. There's definitely a lot of danger, to be sure. The ending is very much like Whiplash --- though more abrupt. Still, you know the made good music on the court, and as a viewer you know all three of them knew it.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about your commentary about “Challengers” mostly because I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie but I loved the film score .
Anyway, yes I agree we’re all yearning
hell ya i had to wait till i saw it to watch this one
personally i thought after z screams she changed her expression and that was the answer/release people were looking for, that it didn’t actually matter who won in the same way nobody really wins in sex or relationships
“tennis is relationships”
Tashia yells " COME ON ! " , in an angry way.... Then, She has a satisfied, happy look on her face , in the final scene....24:01.
EDITED BY BEN FROM CANADA LETS GOOOO
This was a great video! Thank you
Josh O'Connor brings it!
As an fan of De Palma, Adrian Lyne, Paul Verhoeven, and others, I find it bizarre that a film like Challenger is considered an "erotic thriller"; it's practically sexless, and I'm not referring to it being explicit, but rather how sanitized and safe it is in addressing desire.
wtf I have all notifications on for you and this did not show up in my notifications and neither did the previous one! I even just double checked and neither of them ever came up. I feel betrayed
I am glad to see I wasn't wrong for giving Deep Water a hard pass. Every time I saw a still or clip from the movie I would wonder if I was messing up. I also refused to watch Ben Affleck play Batman.
Entertainment industry's current misogyny fest, both overt and subtle, will go unnoted.
Can't wait for the next season of rehash! sending love from London
Ngl, the Dutch newspaper headlines threw me a little 🤣
I was JUST listening to the Showgirls and Lolita episodes of Erotic 90s...I love You Must Remember This podcast!
such a good series! i made a list of all the movies she mentioned from erotic 80s and 90s and i want to watch all the ones i havent seen. it's like 46 flims. i miss the erotic thriller so much even though challengers did not fully do it for me
@@indiefairy09 I hear you! Definitely a good homework lesson to watch the classics. Body Heat is a good one seen in this video!
ive been waiting for this one!! so excited
My parents first date was them playing tennis together.
BEEN WAITING FOR THIS🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Yeah, this film made me feel some things I don't usually feel. Guadagnino, you slick bastard 😂
I love your analysis and that channels like this exist. Videos goes into my next newsletter (recommendation section).
beautiful essay ! 💕
Babe wake up, a new Broey Deschanel dropped! ❤
I watched 'y tu mama tambien' when it came out, and now I'm a weird old gay person in a stable and loving poly relationship 😁 I also blame the song "Triad" by Jefferson Airplane, which I listened to as a kid and thought 'yep, seems logical! 😂
This was so short!!! I wanted it to go on and on 😍
Does anyone know who that is at 26:45? And what movie that clip is from?
Great analysis! Spot on! 👏
LMAOO if I hadn't already liked the video at the very beginning this 21:22 would have made me break my screen trying to click that thumbs up 😭 you ate that
The Wild Things factoid is acurate! I and my millenial freinds did secretly watch Wild Things, when we were children. I hadn't thought of this in years though ^^
Comment for the algorithm. Great vid, as always!
Sports are the sublimation of violence, Art is the sublimation of s3x. So, what do you you get when you make a film about the two?
This essay is masterpiece ❤❤
Is Challengers worth watching for someone who has zero interest in tennis and sports in general? I stayed away from it because sports movies for me are more boring than watching paint dry but editorials like this have me interested.
I watched it with a friend who also doesn't care about sports, but they enjoyed the movie. Would recommend giving it a shot!
@@strawberryskates Maybe I will! I really like Josh O’Connor from watching him in The Durrells😊
When I came out, my interest in sports declined. The only sport i watch now in tennis, mens tennis,
the diretor himself says tennis bores him so your fine, trust me it's not a sports film, it's mainly exist as a metaphor for the relationships
challengers is wonderful and fun but it ended so self-indulgent and campy (you talked about this). Instead of show don't tell about all the cheating the movie both showed and telled, there was so much cheating I started judging all the dumb characters. And the prolonged montage of the 1 on 1 match with the boys, all the contrived tension when we know they love each other and it doesn't matter who wins, it ended more as a fun goofy sexy movie than a thriller
why is the algorithm player hating on broey?
I love your videos dawg
Amazing vid!
I really love this movie, i very happy tô see sombody showing the seame enthusiasm that me
this vid is rlly awesome because i can tell the maia and i listen to the same film review podcasts
do you have any recommendations?
Another point of comparison might be Bull Durham, the other great sports love triangle film.