Luca Guadagnino challenges what we know about filmmaking.

Presentation:

Dir Luca Guadagnino and DP Sayombhu Mukdeeprom team up for one of the most visionary films of 2024. A simplistic grade and standard lighting along with the unassuming 1.85 aspect ratio provide a realistic setting. The film follows a tennis match with jarringly frequent timeline shifts, which turn out to be the core of the story, not the match. Tastefully implemented slow motion capture, off focus and high shutter angle techniques should be met with enthusiasm for cinematography fans, but not casual viewers, which may find it distractingly unnecessary. The risky implementation of music is also very avant garde, which further adds to a certain quirkiness that should be further polarizing. The film crosses into the unknown, breaking the rules of standard cinema and erasing the lines of what goes too far, because the film clearly acknowledges what it is doing, amplified by well framed shots and camera work. The composition increasingly gets better as the tensions progress, leading to a surprising reward. Zendaya provides star power to the marketing of this film, but gives a frustratingly flat performance by design with no chemistry with her costars compared to other films. Some Gen Y dialogue could have a niche reception.

Story:

The film should be as polarizing as ⁠Poor Things, venturing beyond standard visual storytelling. There is a lot of admiration for a film so bold and refreshing, however there are aspects that prevent it from reaching greatness among the masses. The film falls somewhat into the vibe of an offbeat Lanthimos film. It's a film conceived from its climax and reverse engineered to build up to that pivotal moment. This provides a deliberately constructed story, rather than a Tarantino or Villeneuve script where characters explore their world in real time suspense. The script is driving the bus in this film, whereas in other films the character would. This ends up feeling more like a short or episode with the core being a punchline rather than characters making actual decisions. I personally loved it, although the frequent flashbacks are somewhat cheap in the sense that they spoon feed an immediate backstory for the emotional cues. It dances on many of these lines, and does so expertly for the first half of the film. Toward the end and reveal of the engine behind the plot, characters make unrealistic pivots for the sake of a tennis metaphor, which is also tastefully implemented but jarring from the realistic tone set beforehand. The exact moment of disbelief happens at the stop motion scene where Zendaya finally turns back, likely solely to provide continuity for a scene where O'Connor can give the clue with a tennis ball near the handle. So what is this metaphor and what does it mean?

Analysis:

The metaphor is explicitly explained by Zendaya, tennis is a relationship. The film is about two childhood friends brought apart by a home-wrecker of a beautiful woman. Zendaya represents both the net and ball on this court, the tool that divides friendships but also the ambition they compete to dominate, illustrated by her sole obsession with winning tennis. Just like when Faist doesn't returns his serve, he no longer responds to his friend despite O'Connor excited to play with his long lost friend. It's implied for an unexplained reasoned that O'Connor decides to not throw the match for gain and just play and it doesn't matter who wins, friendship (LGB hints) is the ultimate trophy, not their competition. This could also double up as a literal metaphor, women block men from their homosexual tendencies, which would be on trend with a lot of Guadagnino's works.

Conclusion:

This is a very exciting film for filmmakers but a confusing one for regular audiences. It's meant for appreciators of the craft of visual storytelling with an emphasis on exploring new ideas and narrative mechanics rather than the characters exploring a world. The love triangle and tennis metaphor provide a solid foundation for an extremely unique and fun experience.

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