“Challengers” (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

In the greater pantheon of queer works from Luca Guadagnino — including “Call Me By Your Name” and, yes, “Queer” (also on this list!) — “Challengers” lands on the subtler side. It also made tennis 2024’s horniest and most meme-able racket sport, and if that’s not gay, then I don’t know what is.
What begins as a clandestine flirtation with polyamory between three extraordinary tennis players reveals itself to be a story of competitive love that’s poly, yes — but also heavily heteronormative. However, it has a redemptive climax that, while mostly about Zendaya getting to see a great game of tennis, can be read as an extraordinary story of two near-soulmates (Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor) settling an adversarial tension and/or unrequited connection.
A shrewd filmmaker with a melodramatic vision that leaps off the screen here, Guadagnino presents a stylish and sexy sports drama/relationship puzzle box about long-felt betrayal and manipulation that’s unfathomably entertaining. It was a crowd-pleaser that did well at the box office, and New Rochelle deserves major representation come game time at the Academy Awards. —AF