Marty Supreme
3 stars (out of 4)
Director: Josh Safdie
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Odessa A’zion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler the Creator and Kevin O’Leary
Rated: R for language throughout, sexual content, some violent content/bloody images and nudity.
Available: In theaters
Timothée Chalamet delivers one of his best performances to date in Marty Supreme, an off-kilter character study of a low-rent conman with elite athletic skill.
The film itself is interesting, but it’s Chalamet who drives the project beyond the realm of a commonplace and into the arena of late-season awards contenders. The young actor has a heartthrob reputation, but he is long past the point of having to prove his acting chops. He wowed as young Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, delivered charming song-and-dance numbers in Wonka, and leaned into a hauntingly emotional performance in Call Me by Your Name. Those credits only scratch the surface of an ever-expanding filmography that ranges from action spectacles (Dune) to films by artsy directors with indie credibility (The French Dispatch, Ladybird).
Marty Supreme drifts to the latter territory, focusing on a complicated and largely unlikable protagonist named Mary Mauser (Chalamet). Despite owning nothing and scraping by at a job he got from his uncle, Marty believes the world owes him its gratitude. Why? Because he is astonishingly good at ping-pong.
Set in 1950s New York, ping-pong is largely unknown and ignored, but Marty is convinced he is on the verge of becoming a household name … and he does have skill. Marty Supreme reinforces this by cutting between sequences where he crushes opponents in international competitions and others where he pays bills by hustling anyone who wanders across his path. It’s nasty business and writer-director Josh Safdie doesn’t sugarcoat his protagonist’s narcissism. That won’t surprise anyone who saw Safdie’s 2019 feature Uncut Gems. That picture – made with his brother, Benny – features a similarly unsavory lead.
Marty’s nasty demeanor is the heartbeat of the film, and it is clearly displayed in his romantic relationship with Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion), a married woman whom he may love, but not enough to remain loyal or put her above ping-pong. He treats his friends (one played by Tyler the Creator) with similar disregard, consistently placing them in legal and physical peril.
Safdie is passionate about the material, and he and Chalamet fully immerse viewers in Marty’s seedy life on New York’s Lower East Side. There is a dizzying sense of authenticity to every scene, whether Marty is playing hooky from his day job for a tryst with his girlfriend or lunging to reach a ping-pong ball that is seemingly out of reach.
It would be easy for audiences to hate Marty Mauser, but I suspect most will feel at least a smidge of respect because his self-serving behavior is never in the service of riches. Rather, he is bent on proving that he is the best table-tennis player in the world, and all else comes second.
Although Chalamet is the main attraction, the film features excellent supporting turns by A’zion and Gwyneth Paltrow, the latter playing an aging movie star drawn into Marty’s orbit. There is also a surprisingly nice outing by Kevin O’Leary, playing the sadistic business mogul who made Paltrow’s character his wife. O’Leary is merely riffing on the ruthless business persona he developed as a key personality on the reality show Shark Tank, but his performance seems effortless and organic.
In short, Marty Supreme has all the ingredients for a winning picture. The only thing lacking is a character worthy of our admiration. Mauser is supposedly based, in part, on real-life table-tennis phenom Marty Reisman, who passed away in 2012. One can hope the actual man was less obsessive and decidedly more kind, but that is neither here nor there.
Marty Supreme is sold as pure fiction, and there is value in dissecting the choices of even seriously flawed characters. The movie allows such reflection, and Chalamet’s commitment to his role makes this cinematic journey worthwhile.
Author Bio:
Forrest Hartman is the chief film critic at Highbrow Magazine.
For Highbrow Magazine