Both these films are about tennis. Kind of. One is rather loud. The other is pretty quiet. Perhaps you can guess which is which, perhaps you can’t. But you probably can.
If you hop on over to my letterbox account, then you might have notice that both these films have been granted the five-star rating by yours truly. So it’s clear that I really love both. While each film is about tennis on the surface, the sport is actually a device to talk about something else. Neat.
Does the film have great performance(s)?
Julie Keeps Quiet : Yes
The actress playing the titular role is newcomer Tessa Van den Broeck. In her first film. But you wouldn’t know it from the way she commands the camera. The title is a not-so-subtle hint that Julie doesn’t do a lot of talking in the film’s relatively short running time, with lingering shots on her facial expression used to create emotional responses. This kind of technique might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but heck, it’s certainly mine, and that’s what matters. Instead of over expository dialogue, we see pain, anguish and conflict through what we’re not told, leaving the audience to work for meaning on their own. Even a couple of brief shots of Julie’s hand with plastered fingers from an intense tennis game hold more meaning than her saying ‘ow, my hands hurt’. I mean, she’d probably say something more eloquent than that in an arthouse flick this like this. But the point is, she doesn’t need to. Van den Broeck puts in a fine debut performance, and that’s all that matters.
Challengers: Yes
So, three performances here. Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. And unlike Julie, this trio doesn’t stay quiet. In more ways than one. The basic premise focuses on the tennis world, but what the camera’s really interested in is sex. But everyone’s good in the acting field. I’m not so familiar with Mike Faist, who plays Zendaya’s partner, but he does a good job. As does Josh O’Connor as Zendaya’s former BF. I mean, these characters have names, but that’s not so important. What’s important is watching three attractive individuals on screen having a good time. In more ways than one. There’s a slight deflation in the sense that both Zendaya and Josh O’Connor were so well-known to me at this point that it kind of took away from the novelty of seeing a ‘new’ performance in the same way as when I saw Van den Broeck. But that doesn’t change the fact that everyone’s still on their game here. Match point.
Is the director gay?
Julia Keeps Quiet: Yes – Leonardo Van Dijl (Hooray!)
Challengers: Yes – Luca Guadagino (Hooray!)
Extra points granted to both.
Does the film have a great soundtrack?
Julie Keeps Quiet: Yes
Well, calling it a soundtrack is stretching it, because Julie Keeps Quiet doesn’t have a load of tunes, in the sense of lots of distinctive tunes. But what it does have is Taproot. That’s right, Taproot. It’s a relatively short, three-minute song that acts as Julie’s emotional motif. We only hear it a few times, but that’s all we need. A soaring, wordless, operatic voice articulates Julie, a character who constantly refuses to articulate her feelings openly. And goshdarn is it effective, particularly when it’s used in louder, ambient form in the film’s poignant denouement. Powerful, powerful stuff.
Challengers: Yes
Absolutely, yes. ‘Compress/Repress’ was my go to track whenever I wanted to go zooming on the spinning at the gym, and it’s frickin’ effective. Admittedly, ‘Challengers: Match Point’ has since replaced that zooming tune, but both are super effective. Not in a Pokémon sense, you understand, but in a general sense. The whole electrifying music directly complements the energy on the tennis field and off it, acting as its kind of zany character as the ball races from side to side. Easily one of the finest soundtracks composed by synth mavericks Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who have already made big impressions with soundtracks in joints like The Social Network, Gone Girl and The Killer, to name but a few. Groovy.
The trophy’s gonna have to go Julie Keeps Quiet at the present moment. Don’t get me wrong, I love both films, but JKQ just hit me in the feels like nothing else. As soon as I read that interview with the director on Curzon where he described the opening scene as a motif for Julie’s ongoing expression of silence, I knew I was going to be hooked. Well played.