CHALLENGERS screening at FOMO Cinema Tbilisi

Luca Guadagnino | 2024 | USA | 2h11m | Presented in the original English audio with English subtitles

Guadagnino's CHALLENGERS takes a love triangle and plays it like a pressure cooker. On one level it’s a film about tennis, competition and ambition. On another, it’s about power, intimacy, about three people who can’t stop turning attraction into rivalry and rivalry into performance. Tennis is the whole grammar of the film. Every match, every glance and every shift in momentum tells you something about desire, ego and control.

What really drives it for me, though, is the sound. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross give the film a soundtrack that feels restless, propulsive and slightly filthy in exactly the right way. It pushes scenes forward with this charged electronic pulse that makes even conversations feel like foreplay or combat. That score does a huge amount of work. It gives CHALLENGERS its sweat, its velocity and a lot of its attitude. Without it, the film would still be sharp. With it, it feels fully alive.

WHY I’VE INCLUDED IT IN THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM: For me, it’s one of the clearest recent examples of mainstream cinema made with real style, where direction, editing, performance and music all push in the same direction. It knows exactly what kind of thrill it wants to deliver, and it delivers it game, set, match.

LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.

HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to the first floor. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us:
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17933106294029235/