In a place where government officials regularly coerce sex from minors without reproach, Hooligan Sparrow is a rare glimpse into the lives and work of the few brave human rights activists who risk their lives to protect the rights of women in China. We caught up with Nanfu at Sundance 2016 to talk about the inception of the project, shooting with very minimal equipment and constantly evading secret police.
And finally, Nanfu's advice to first time filmmakers:
I think for a lot of people who want to make films, the hardest thing is to start. They always have an idea, but probably aren't confident because they don't have money or equipment or are afraid of failure. So my advice would be to just go ahead and do it with the equipment you have — even if it's just a cell phone — and have the determination to finish it with or without money. No matter what.
For a little over two hours, I was glued to my seat in the AMC Century City, fascinated and entralled in the world of the tennis dramaChallengers.
This masterful movie, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor, is sexy, unflinching, and leaves audiences pondering its final moments.
The film, filled with flashbacks and unspoken emotions, culminates in a high-stakes match between childhood friends Art and Patrick, vying for a win that transcends the scoreboard. But the true victory, the movie suggests, lies elsewhere.
Let's explore.
Spoilers for the movie Challengers to come...
Challengers Movie Summary
In the movie Challengers, Tashi, a former tennis star turned coach, sees her husband Art, a once-dominant professional player, sinking into a slump.
Seeking to restore his fire, she enters him in a low-level "Challenger" tournament, expecting easy wins. However, her plan unravels when Art faces his estranged childhood friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend, Patrick, whose own career has fizzled into mediocrity.
This unexpected reunion throws the trio's intertwined past into stark relief, revealing a history of intense friendship, youthful ambition, romantic entanglements, and unspoken betrayals.
As flashbacks weave through the present, Challengers explores the fragility of male friendship, particularly when fueled by competition, ambition, and a shared love for the same woman.
These flashbacks also expose the sacrifices Tashi made when her promising tennis career was cut short by injury. And how Art took care of her, and married her. But her passion for Patrick still burned hot, and their love triangle got even more complicated.
The focus of the film culminates in the climactic match between Art and Patrick. This battle transcends sport—it becomes a raw, physical confrontation with a past they cannot outrun.
In the final frames, they're playing a tie breaker, going back and forth.
So what happens next?
Challengers Ending Explained
Director Luca Guadagnino opts for an ambiguous ending, leaving the final point of the match unseen.
Art, fueled by a revelation of past betrayal, unleashes his fury on the court.
Patrick, seeking redemption, battles back.
The tension reaches a fever pitch as Art lunges for a final shot, colliding with Patrick in a tangle of limbs as he dives over the actual net and into his arms.
This isn't just a tennis maneuver; it's a physical manifestation of their complex bond.
And it symbolizes the reuniting of their friendship.
Their embrace is open to interpretation, but my take is that it hints at a long-awaited forgiveness. Art and Patrick, despite years of estrangement, may be rediscovering a connection forged on the tennis courts of their youth.
Of course, this could be more complicated since Tashi has recently slept with Patrick, but maybe not.
Tashi adds another layer to the ending. Is her enthusiastic cheer a sign of renewed passion for the game, or is it fueled by the raw emotion displayed on the court?
Her future with Art remains uncertain. She respects him as a father but wants him to want to be a tennis player, the thing that was taken away from her.
In the final scene, they are finally communicating, not with words, but through the language of the game that brought them together.
Whether Art emerges victorious, or Patrick claims his comeback, is ultimately irrelevant. The ending of Challengers is a dance of forgiveness, a tentative step towards healing old wounds. And perhaps, that's the most satisfying victory of all.
Guadagnino told Entertainment Weekly he kept the winner ambiguous on purpose: "I needed to get this very, very visually amped up and really immersed for the audience to understand how much it meant for them not to win over the other, but to be back together, all of them."
The question of which guy Tashi chooses at the end is also on the audience's mind.
Writer of the movie Justin Kuritzkes told Indie Wire “I chose to end the movie where I ended the movie, and I chose to end it there because for me, the movie is over. For me, what’s going on with these people has resolved in some way that’s satisfying enough for me. And I always want to start a movie as late as possible and end a movie as early as possible. So for me, I got what I needed by then, and I feel like they did too.”
Challengers is a film that lingers, like the echo of a well-struck ball. It doesn't offer easy answers, preferring to explore the complexities of human connection and the weight of the past.
Whether Art or Patrick ultimately triumphed on the court is less important than the journey they took to reach that point, a journey that may forever change the dynamics of their tangled relationship with Tashi.
Is tennis the ultimate key to forgiveness? Let me know what you think in the comments.
