Sayombhu Mukdeeprom – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

CHALLENGERS: Love from the Tennis Movie Playbook – Jennifer Green comments

May 1, 2024May 5, 2024 Jennifer Green Challengers, josh o'connor, luca guadagnino, Mike Faist, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, tennis, tennis playbook, zendaya

The final climactic scenes of Luca Guadagnino’s new film Challengers track an epic court battle between two professional tennis players, Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor). The story follows them as childhood best friends coming up in the world of pro tennis whose relationship is complicated by their love for the same woman, frustrated tennis star Tashi (Zendaya). Their own obvious mutual attraction adds another level of homoerotic friction. You’d expect nothing less from the director of Call Me by My Name. But that doesn’t mean Challengers is entirely new as far as tennis movies go. In fact, the film pulls quite a few ideas from the existing tennis movie playbook.

Reviews

THIRTEEN LIVES – Review by Susan Granger

August 16, 2022August 17, 2022 Susan Granger Colin Farrell, John Volanthen, ron howard, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Tham Luang cave, Thirteen Lives, truth-based, Viggo Mortensen

On June 23, 2018, twelve soccer players and their coach became trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in northern Thailand. In Thirteen Lives, director Ron Howard details how they were rescued. While the boys (ages 10 to 16) and their 25 year-old coach were exploring deep into the massive cavern system, heavy rains of the monsoon season began to fall, flooding the exit and stranding them inside.

Reviews

THIRTEEN LIVES – Review by Diane Carson

August 9, 2022August 12, 2022 Diane Carson Colin Farrell, John Volanthen, ron howard, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Tham Luang cave, Thirteen Lives, truth-based, Viggo Mortensen

Director Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives impressively dramatizes actual events from 2018, an equally terrifying and inspiring, seemingly impossible rescue mission. Even knowing the outcome for the twelve Thai Wild Boar soccer boys and their coach as they enter the Tham Luang Cave in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai Province, a palpable chill takes over as monsoon storms unleash torrents of rain.