Every year, a whole bundle of movies release right on Christmas Day, leaving myself and other cinephiles biding their time until the family get togethers come to a close. While the overall lineup this Christmas may not pack the same punch as other years, there's no denying the excitement behind the year's last big release; Marty Supreme. This comes just a year after Timothee Chalamet won the SAG award for Best Actor and used his speech to let the world know that he's striving to achieve greatness, and this might just be the path to his first Oscar.
Directed by Josh Safdie (one half of the Safdie brothers), Marty Supreme is set in the 1950s and follows Marty Mauser, a charismatic table tennis star striving to be the face of the growing sport. In the way of his pursuit of greatness is a new Japanese phenom, a bunch of people owed money, and an endless stream of spiralling bad decisions putting him in situations he can't talk himself out of.
Chalamet is simply astounding here. Along with Safdie's terrific direction, he creates a character that is so clearly riddled with flaws and frustrations that you can't help but root for. Marty is the type of guy that will inevitable piss most people off, but Chalamet's charisma makes him a thrilling character to follow amidst the film's two and a half hours of chaos. In a bit of a contrast to Safdie's previous work this does also seem to have a real character arc, even if it takes a long time to eventually get there. It's going to be a fascinating award season with Chalamet seemingly going toe to toe with Leonardo Dicaprio for One Battle After Another, but I think this feels like it should be Chalamet taking home his first award.
The ensemble here is also amazing. I will say I was a bit let down by Gwenyth Paltrow, as her award season buzz feels a bit inauthentic with how little she really has to do in the film. The real start supporting actress is Odessa A'zion who perfectly exemplifies the way people fall under Marty's spell only to be done wrong by him. She has her fair share of quiet and loud moments and nails all of them, even stealing the show from Chalamet at times. Another surprise standout was Tyler Okonma (aka Tyler, the Creator) as a friend of Marty's. As far as rapper turned actor performances go it's hard to beat Okonma here, offering a similar role to that of A'zion but with a more developed understanding of the mess Marty can make. He's fun but also clearly frustrated and I loved the performance. Also pretty fantastic is Kevin O'Leary as a businessman and the husband of Paltrow's character. I don't know much about O'Leary but I know he's a controversial figure, so without saying anything about his as a person, he is pretty outstanding here especially considering this is his first film role. He's pretty damn scary and in comparison to the youthful charisma of Marty he makes for a great foil.
Crafts wise there isn't much not to love here. Safdie takes the frenetic style that he and his brother mastered with Good Time and Uncut Gems and brings it to the world of ping pong. The energy here is off the charts, and that does at times make it a bit of a mess to follow, but for the most part Safdie delivers a riveting ride that perfectly balances an Uncut Gems story and some thrilling ping pong sequences. The soundtrack despite not being era accurate does a lot for the energy, as does the fantastic score from Daniel Lopatin. The cinematography manages to be frantic but still beautiful, especially in how well it captures the close quarters action of ping pong.
This is just simply an awesome movie. I'd recommend watching Uncut Gems first if you haven't just to get a better idea of what you're getting into, but this is an easy recommend from me and a film we should no doubt be seeing all over the awards circuit. 4.5/5
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