A24 really know their audience. The studio has been on a hot streak for a while now with hits like  Everything Everywhere All At Once, Uncut Gems, Midsommar, Moonlight, Beef on Netflix, Euphoria on HBO and have a very distinctive sensibility for what movies they think will do well, and Marty Supreme is no different. 

 

Directed by Josh Safdie, this film makes no qualms about what it is.  It’s sweaty, anxious, filled with fairly unlikeable characters for the most part and is not trying to endear you to anyone, least of all Timotheé Chalamet as Marty Mauser; loosely based on real life US table tennis champion Marty Reisman. I always have time for a sports movie, but this movie is really not that. It’s closer to a movie about a sportsman than a sports movie. In the end, it doesn’t matter because Chalamet gives one of the best performances of the year in this film. 

Marty Supreme follows Chalamet as the eponymous character, who tries to make table tennis as big in America as it was in Asia in the early 1950s, shortly after World War II. Marty is brash, overconfident and honestly an asshole. The film starts with him being humbled at the final  British Table Tennis Open, and that defeat sends Marty spiralling. He returns home to the US with his pride wounded and seeks to make up for it at the next tournament, in Tokyo, a month later. There’s only one problem: he’s flat broke. Thus starts a trail of scams and shenanigans in order to get the money for the trip. 

 

That’s the synopsis of the film, but there’s a lot more going on in the characters’ interpersonal relationships than there is in the actual plot of the movie. It’s an interesting choice that had me curious as to how the movie would resolve itself, given its extensive 2hr30min runtime. I must mention again that this movie made me feel anxious in the cinema. I remember thinking I haven’t felt that particular brand of sticky tension in a film since Uncut Gems, which just so happens to be helmed by the same director. Initially, I thought it to be a little derivative, but that’s just his style. Anxiety-inducing films tangentially related to sports with an asshole as the lead character (Adam Sandler in Gems and Chalamet here).

 

The cast as a whole is superb. Chalamet has already won the Golden Globe for best Comedy/Drama actor for this film, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he were in the running for the Oscar for best lead actor. It’s also really him playing table tennis in the film, no stunt double, which is impressively cool. He’s our new DiCaprio, and I’m here for it.  Gwyneth Paltrow is surprisingly quite fun as the jaded wife of an ink magnate (played by Shark Tank’s Mr Wonderful, Kevin O’Leary). Her chemistry with Chalamet was a fun bit of the movie. Odessa A’zion, Tyler, the Creator, and Luke Manley round out the main cast and are all great.  

 

I also have to mention that I really enjoyed the score and soundtrack of this movie. The score, by Daniel Lopatin (also known as Onehotrix Point Never), is propulsive yet claustrophobic, elevating the film to make it feel grandiose and relentless. For a film set in the 50’s, the soundtrack of the film is chock full of anachronistic 80’s music, my favourite being Tears For Fears – ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’.

 

Overall, I liked the film. It was carried mostly by Chalamet’s riveting performance, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only draw. My issues with the film are that it’s a bit too long and doesn’t even have that solid an ending. A lot is left to our interpretation when the lights come up at the end, and I have to admit I found it a little difficult to root for an asshole for 150 minutes. Maybe that’s just me. It doesn’t detract from the fact that this is a well-made movie and should win Chalamet a lot of awards. 

 

7.9/10 I liked it, but I definitely don’t love it.

Bolu
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Boluwatife Adesina is a media writer and the helmer of the Downtown Review page. He’s probably in a cinema near you.