In this easy and exuberant film by Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya bursts onto the screen.
While Dune: Part Two by Denis Villeneuve is still in theaters and is once again presented in IMAX version, Zendaya admirers can also discover it in Challengers by Luca Guadagnino, filmmaker of the unforgettable Call me by your name starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer. No doubt, Hollywood is a small environment!
Zendaya stopped at the Masters 1000 tournament in Monte-Carlo on April 13 to promote her film “Challengers.”
Photo AFP
Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) is a former tennis player. Now, when the film begins, she has become the manager of Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), her husband. Art is an excellent player, a champion – he only needs a victory at the US Open to complete the Grand Slam – but he is having a difficult time. Tashi then has the idea, to boost his professional ego, of making him play in a very minor tournament.
But on the other side of the net, Art is facing Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor). Former childhood friend, former playing partner, Patrick is also Tashi’s ex… which is sure to spice up the match between the two players.
A few days earlier, on April 8, Zendaya posed on the roof terrace of the Hassler Hotel to promote her most recent feature film. We notice that tennis balls are incorporated into her stiletto heels.
Photo MEGA/WENN
If the narrative structure, composed of non-linear flashbacks to more or less distant periods, can prove complex, Luca Guadagnino makes sure to give us all the visual cues (places, hairstyles, clothes) so that we don’t don’t get lost there. The rivalry between the two players is therefore explored, with Tashi quickly becoming the focal point of Challengers.
The screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes has several lines that hit the mark and the character played by a Zendaya in great shape turns out to be much more than the object of the two men’s desire (shhh! No spoilers!). But what is stunning is the way in which the filmmaker films the tennis matches. With lots of supercharged music from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (what a soundtrack!), the ball returns are electrifying and the camera shots are so galvanizing that they make tennis an extreme sport. No doubt, it wakes you up!
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Challengers will hit cinema screens from April 26.
