Challengers is invariably described as hot, sexy, steamy, etc., but there is almost no actual sex in it. The erotic charge comes mostly from Zendaya’s character and the power she has over these two men, on and off the tennis court. The movie’s tagline could have come straight from “Head Like a Hole”: “Bow down before the one you serve.”
Like Donaldson, Reznor and Ross thrive by following instructions, giving us something Reznor acknowledges he probably wouldn’t have thought to do. “Luca said, ‘What if all the music was driving, thumping techno, like a heartbeat that makes the movie fun?’” he recalled. “I don’t know that we would have landed on that on our own.” True to Guadagnino’s brief, Challengers (Original Score) offers a smorgasbord of thumping club sounds, from electroclash (“Yeah x10”) to synth-pop to fast and functional techno. Each one feels like a dutiful genre exercise, but with a sonic signature that that is unmistakably Reznor and Ross’, especially in the way instruments like piano and guitar gel so elegantly with synths and drum machines.
The music works brilliantly in the film, driving the action as much as it follows it, less a backdrop than a bold counterpoint to what’s on screen. Take, for instance, the moment when kick drums start pounding during a dorm-room argument. Or, more generally, the idea of rave music as the soundtrack to a tennis dramedy, a pairing that works so well you probably wouldn’t notice how counterintuitive it actually is. Much like their music for The Social Network, Ross and Reznor’s score opens dimensions to the film that might not have been visible otherwise. Almost every review of Challengers has praised the score specifically—even, in the case of the BBC, when they’re panning the film itself.
Ross and Reznor’s past soundtracks, however inspired, have never quite worked as albums outside the context of their respective films. The music on Challengers stands up on its own better than any music from their other scores, but the record as a whole still has a lumpiness that’s symptomatic of the format, with many tracks clocking in at less than three minutes and some appearing and reappearing in multiple versions. Evidently wise to this concern, Ross and Reznor hired the German DJ and producer Boys Noize to create a supplementary mixed (and remixed) version of the OST—no mean feat given the dramatic range in tempos, but one he handles with flair, creating a tight half hour of party rockers, dusted with samples of rackets thwacking and sneakers squeaking on clay. Boys Noize’s mix weaves it all together into a smooth, dynamic arc, and delivers a far more interesting version of “Compress / Repress,” lobbing in some gabber flourishes that shouldn’t work but absolutely do.
“Compress / Repress,” co-written with Guadagnino and sung by Reznor, is one instance where the shared artistic control gets confusing. Historically, Reznor has lent his voice to music that prized sincerity and authentic personal expression above all else. This song feels different: The lyrics flatly complement the themes of the film, and the production is a kind of straightforward synth-pop you’d never get from Nine Inch Nails. For this lifelong NIN fan, to learn the lyrics weren’t all Reznor’s was clarifying and, somehow, relieving; to see him doing another artist’s bidding is strangely humanizing. As a movie theme, it’s fine. As a Nine Inch Nails track, it would be a bit vanilla. Either way, at a screening this week in Berlin, it had a few audience members chair-dancing their way through the final credits.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
