- Challengers
The sweatiest movie of the year might also just be the best. Challengers has the plot of a simple soap opera (with its gloriously messy love triangle and affairs) brought to justice with the expert direction of someone who could only be Luca Guadagnino. The film sends you back in time, throws you forward into present day only to then have you shot back into the past again, making the entire movie feel like a tennis game where the viewer takes turns going back-and-forth to different sides of the court. Staying true to this muddled up structure, Challengers’ pacing can feel a bit disorganized at times, but each time it slows down just makes it that much more exciting when the tempo speeds back up.
Long-time collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross serve the soundtrack of the year, taking inspiration from techno and fast-paced-EDM to keep each minute of the movie high with tension. The fast-paced score isn’t just for tennis, but also (sometimes jarringly) comes on during conversations, blurring the line of how much of these character’s lives feels like a game. Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist deliver career-best performances as Patrick and Art, respectively, and their onscreen friendship/rivalry/romance/all of it makes the film as exhilarating it is. Although Tashi (Zendaya) alternates between Art and Patrick, Guadagnino does not care about which one finally gets the girl — they’re too focused on the ball.
- I Saw the TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow is a strikingly original psychological horror film whose distinct approach makes it rewarding for those willing to engage with it. Building up to a well-crafted allegory for closeted queerness, Schoenbrun captures the duality of feeling attached to where you’re from while battling the self-sabotage that comes with staying there. Our protagonist, Owen, spends their childhood watching and their adulthood reminiscing over a campy supernatural show called The Pink Opaque. Any time Owen’s real world stifles, the world on television liberates.
TV Glow has a very special identity of its own — brought to life by hypnotizing neon visuals and an entirely original soundtrack with standout songs from Caroline Polachek and King Woman — and much of it is kept intentionally cheesy and childish in style of what a show like The Pink Opaque would feel like. Any choice that might turn someone away (abstract monologues, stiff line delivery, basic dialogue) was done on purpose, and Schoenbrun’s dedication to mirror the awkwardness of young adult media is why TV Glow needs its entire runtime to fully thrive.
It gets frustrating and depressing to watch Owen deny themselves repeatedly as they go further and further away from where a happy ending would need them to be, but the untraditional and borderline inexplicable journey the film takes is what makes it as tremendous as it is. TV Glow remarkably issues a warning against hiding your identity for so long that, in the words of The Pink Opaque’s Mr. Melancholy, “you won’t even remember that you’re dying.”
- Love Lies Bleeding
Love Lies Bleeding begins with Lou (a perfectly cast Kristen Stewart) cleaning up someone else’s mess, followed by 100 more minutes of exactly that when she finds herself stuck covering up a murder her steroid-pumped girlfriend (Katy O’Brien as Jackie) hastily commits. Their relationship is violently dysfunctional but guiltily exciting as they make their way through disaster, falling deeper and deeper into trouble with each misstep.
Writer/director Rose Glass isn’t afraid to take the risk of (spoilers ahead) introducing human giants and fantastical surrealism, and although these absurd steps away from a traditional narrative make for a more interesting ending, they’re the reason Love Lies Bleeding isn’t for everyone. Despite the movie eventually going a little off the rails towards the end, each relationship and personality feels weirdly real and believable despite the absurdity of what surrounds them, elevating the movie beyond just any other crime/thriller. Glass creates a visually arresting experience where each scene feels intoxicating, and as these two love, lie, and bleed, not a single moment goes to waste.
