The Challengers I watched and the Challengers that has swept the internet seem to be two completely different movies. The Challengers I watched was about Tashi and her feral need for control, her need for winning and how she viewed her life through the lense of the game of tennis, and how her own life was a microcosm of the game, instead of the other way round. The relationship between Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faise) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor), was to me less sexual than it was merely passion for the game that translated itself into this raw energy that none of them knew exactly how to deal with. In as much as there was excitement about the menage a trois, what I saw was Tashi playing with Art and Patrick the moment that she met with them, antagonizing them, making her ken dolls kiss, the way a child playing with her dolls would. Sure Art and Patrick in turn because very moldable in those roles, but it wasn’t sexual but a different kind of passion and tension that the oblivious onlooker has no choice but to wonder if they just need to f*ck to get it out of the way.

Continue reading “Challengers” Movie Review →