Brokedown Palace (1999)

In a world plagued by black and white sentiments of romance, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers aims to paint over these lines—highlighting the brilliantly vivid spectrum of human bonds.

From the very opening sequence, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) are head-to-head in an intense tennis match as an audience, with Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) in the front and center, watches on. It is after this scene, from a myriad of flashbacks placed carefully and deliberately throughout the rest of the film, that the unspoken tension between the three characters is expanded upon. Teenage Art and Patrick, once best of friends, meet Tashi—a headstrong female tennis player with more than enough potential and skill to pursue a professional career—and both immediately pine for her. Tashi, knowing this and sensing the intimate connection between Art and Patrick, strings them both along—making out with the both of them before directing them to each other before leaning back to watch the two boys now kissing, basking in the satisfaction of her doing. Before leaving, she pits the two against each other—promising that the winner of their tennis match the following day would receive her number. Patrick would come to win the match against Art, becoming her boyfriend. Why is it, then, that Art ultimately becomes Tashi’s husband and not Patrick?