Four brothers. Split apart by creative differences, duking it out for brother supremacy. As a fatal four way, Marty Supreme is the winner, edging out Joel Coen’s Denzel Macbeth joint, brother Bennie’s Rock MMA massacre, and whatever hot trash Ethan Coen is slumming with the last couple years. In the battle of Coen Brother solo movies vs. Safdie Brother solo movies, the Safdies win in a landslide. Come on Ethan Coen, get your sh*t together!
It’s 1950s New York City. Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) is young dumb and full of…well, you know. He works as a shoe salesman for uncle Murray (Larry Sloman) to pay for his real passion: being the best ping pong/table tennis player in the world. Marty’s got the belt for the Western World, but with the travel ban now over, Japan sends Endo (Koto Kawaguchi) their best, to compete in the UK table tennis championships. Marty’s laser focused on beating Endo to assure his spot in history, drawing the allure of fawning pet shop owner Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion), retired actress Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), wealthy businessman Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary), and maybe an unnerving dog owner Ezra Mishkin (Abel Ferrara) or two on his way to the top.
Marty Supreme is one of the more insightful sports and young person movies to come out in recent memory. It’s actively challenging the tropes we’ve grown to think as admirable in our sports heroes. We enjoy watching that unflinching belief in the self, doing whatever it takes to get their chance at greatness. Marty Supreme proposes we stop and think for a second. Is that type of behavior really worth rooting for? Are all “distractions” really distractions? Does a sports champion bear any other responsibilities besides being the best? Marty Mauser’s story looks at these questions from a less “sports movic arc” lens, and more of a real world one. Writer/director Josh Safdie’s answers are more complex, and usually much more serious for Marty Mauser, and especially the people who care about him and root for him. And even those “supportive characters” are painted in shades of grey; many of them are leeches, using Marty for personal gain, ready to dump him when he becomes a nuisance.
And yet, Josh Safdie knows the reason why Marty is willing to be as desperate as he is…and why people around him are ready and willing to go along for the ride. The highs of winning a competition, of being the best, are rare and fleeting…and the best feelings in the world to the winner. Marty Supreme is electric when that ping pong ball is flying around. There’s an energy that takes over in the room, and Marty, Endo, and everyone sees and feels it too…and want in in some way. Timothee Chalamet is incredible channeling that young BDE (look it up, but tread lightly adults), walking this incredible line of showing Marty’s immense charisma while also making it clear he’s one of Khalid’s young dumb broke kids. It fully explains the bigger and bigger holes Marty sinks into, and how special he is to convince others that he’s not just full of BS, but he’s worth everyone’s time and effort due to his talents (which Chalamet really sells at the table/with his fast talking jibber jabber). Safdie takes that same table tennis energy and applies it desperately when the matches aren’t happening, resulting in a movie that’s electric and full of endless forward momentum that keeps the audience locked in, ready for more.
So let’s start splitting up more directing pairs to see where the talent really lies? The Safdie’s have the tag team belt now, but what if Daniels if Everything Everywhere? Or maybe the Avenging Russos? Or our Spiderversers Lord and Miller? Oh no, I’ve gone drunk with Marty Supreme energy, I’m gonna tear all these duos apart! Stop! I take it all back!