In Marty Mauser’s (Timothée Chalamet) mind, he has a purpose in life. Most people around him don’t. In the early 1950’s, Marty gets by in New York City by working part-time as a shoe salesman at a relative’s store, and using his elite skills in table tennis to hustle unsuspecting denizens. While he could easily settle into a comfortable life, that would be hell for the assured Marty.

With table tennis starting to boom, there’s money and endorsements to be made, and Marty’s ascent into stardom will commence if he’s able to win the World Championships in Britain as the representative for the United States. In his pursuit of greatness, tumult, much of it self-induced, always follows him. Whether it be a torrid affair with thespian Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), a long standing affair with lifetime friend Rachel Mizle (Odessa A’zion), pissing contests with business mogul Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary), or escalated consequences that arise from he and hustling partner Wally’s (Tyler Okonma) schemes, the path to the mountaintop is anything but linear. Thankfully for Marty, his confidence and relentlessness is anything but miniscule.

2019’s Uncut Gems has become a seminal work, with many movies in some way, shape, or form doing their best to capture that movie’s neverending anxiety and propulsion put forth by the Safdie brothers and technical crew. It’s a movie that’s not for everyone, but for those of whom it works well for, it hovers around the top of most impactful features released in the past 5-10 years. It’s kind of fitting that the only way it could be met, if not topped, would be courtesy of the brothers, or at least one of them, going back for another helping.

Marty Supreme is Josh Safdie’s first solo directing effort, mere months after brother Benny’s maiden voyage. Recreating 1950’s New York (and a little of Japan, for good measure) is no small feat, but the usage of 35mm film gives the film some grain and goes a long way towards immersing viewers in its setting. With assist from longtime Safdie writing and editing partner Ronald Bronstein, the camera is propulsive in nearly every second of the feature, be it the back-and-forth of a ping-pong title bout or when following its subject through a dingy hotel that eventually leads to one of the more chaotic sequences of the moviegoing year. The underlying driver to this voltaic approach is yet another oft-collaborator of the Safdies in talented composer Daniel Lopatin. Taking some inspiration from 80’s movies, he utilizes synth sounds blended with traditional orchestral motifs (the fluttering flute gets a lot of love in a handful of Marty Supreme’s bigger moments) to create a score that is integral to the energy of the movie.

You’d think that some sort of rise, fall, rise sports movie formula and notable focus on the sport itself of ping pong would be spotlighted more here. The lack of these is a little disappointing at first given the setup (if only because table tennis like full scale tennis translates so well to the big screen dramatically), but the recalibration of expectations doesn’t take too long. Marty Supreme doesn’t ask viewers to sympathize or try to understand the oft-sociopathic behavior of its titular character. I don’t believe Safdie and Bronstein wrote Marty, very loosely inspired by the real life Marty Reisman, as a complex figure. However, the writing duo have written Marty to be someone that you can never take your eyes off of, a livewire so singularly driven to achieve his self-appointed destiny no matter what is thrown at him. This, plus the breakneck pacing, and Chalamet’s dynamic performance create an engrossing view from beginning to end.

On the Marty Supreme press tour, Chalamet seems to be taking his character’s supreme confidence into every interview. Whether this is a true act or not remains a question, but what isn’t is the electricity Chalamet carries in every scene. In a short amount of time, the young thespian has showcased a wide spectrum of range in various roles. Yet, as impressive as A Complete Unknown and Call Me By Your Name are, Marty Supreme just feels like a higher degree of difficulty and the work of someone really coming into the peak of his power as a mesmeric screen presence. Taking nothing away from a good supporting cast in Paltrow, A’Zion, Tyler the Creator, and even Kevin O’Leary certainly not playing against type, but Chalamet is the alpha and the omega when thinking about this movie.

One movie kept on coming into my head as the runtime for Marty Supreme continued, and that would be Nightcrawler. Different movies subject matter-wise, but similar in their approach, folding some dark humor into their lead character’s journeys to be the very best at what they do. While we only get one brother this time instead of both behind the camera, Marty Supreme is yet another skillful and championship-level achievement worth every bit of its current and future praise.

A-

Photo credits go to impawards.com, thewrap.com, thegrapejuice.net, and goldderby.com.