challengers edition
everything is sex, except for sex, which is tennis
Hello, I’m reviving this occasional newsletter because I have Challengers fever and there is no cure. As of this writing, I have seen Challengers three times in a week, and I would probably go right on seeing it into next week and beyond if I wasn’t leaving for Japan on Monday. I saw it on Sunday for the first time, then I saw it again at a 10:00 pm(!) IMAX screening on a Wednesday(!!), and then once more today (Friday). I’m not going to talk here at length about what specifically I love about the movie and every little detail I’m obsessing over (the fucking GUM??) and all my theories—keeping this spoiler-free—but I would LOVE TO so if you’ve seen it and want to get into it hit me up. What I am going to tell you about is everything that I’ve bought since this movie changed my brain chemistry.
Three tickets to Challengers. I guess technically only two of the tickets were purchased after the movie changed my brain chemistry.
Thank god for Super Yaki for rushing these New Rochelle Challenger presented by Phil’s Tire Town fits into production. The way that I slammed the Add to Cart button the second I saw these go live. I hope they come in soon. Yes I bought both.
I was browsing at Target before I went to my Wednesday night screening and I was looking at a button-down that came in both white with grey stripes and green with white stripes. I bought the white one because I thought it would be more versatile. But then when I saw the movie again that night I noticed that Patrick wears a green and white button-down in the hotel room scene (yes THAT hotel room scene). So I went back the next day and bought it. I wore it to my Friday screening where I noticed that Art is also wearing it, earlier in the day. So now I feel doubly vindicated. I might be Patrick Zweig for Halloween, we’ll see!
Bananas.
Things I have not bought since Challengers changed my brain chemistry:
Tennis lessons, although I do have a friend that was motivated to do so by this movie (hi Lucy) and a second one is threatening to (hi Liz). It is changing people’s lives!!
A churro.
GUM.
The I TOLD YA shirt. Which was apparently based on JFK Jr. The cultural language of the clothes in this movie!!!
Challengers has lit a fire in me. If you haven’t seen it yet, I am literally BEGGING YOU to please go immediately, and I hope your screening is packed because it’s definitely better with a crowd. Please please please do not wait for it to be on streaming, you have to see this on the big screen with the score fucking pounding. All three times that I’ve walked out of the theater I’ve felt like I could possibly scale a small building. One friend who I took to see it told me she wanted to immediately go running. Challengers inspired me to write this newsletter, something I haven’t done in over a year, and to very carefully craft this playlist, which you should not shuffle. My friend Liz reported the playlist gave her “heart palpitations” so please listen with caution.
At my Friday showing, the theater was more full than my previous two showings. There’s a capital-M Moment towards the end of the film and, since I’ve seen it two times already, instead of being glued to the screen I decided to look around the theater and watch other people’s reactions. A few rows back another woman was doing the same thing and we locked eyes. After the movie I saw her in the lobby and it turned out it was also her third viewing. I literally jumped up and down. We hugged. And that’s CINEMA, BABY.
Yours in materialism,
liz
P.S. I could possibly see it one more time Saturday night, if you’re in LA and want to see it for the first or, like me, fourth time hmu.