If you look at the Safdie brothers' works – from their first student short films to their Cannes competition entry “Good Time” – you can clearly see their constant development. Each film made people curious about what the next evolutionary stage of their adrenaline-fueled immersion into their obsessive, wandering characters would look like. But then came “The Black Diamond”: The masterpiece with Adam Sandler in possibly his best role is a perfect, kinetic cinema of pure exhaustion. What else is to follow? So it almost seemed like there was no alternative that the brothers then decided to go their separate ways creatively:
However, while Benny Safdie developed in a noticeably different direction with Dwayne Johnson and “The Smashing Machine”, Josh Safdie stayed true to the path they had previously taken together: “The Black Diamond” may actually not be able to be topped, but why not just create another comparable masterpiece? And indeed: “Marty Supreme” is another direct hit with the unmistakable Safdie signature! Only this time it's not Adam Sandler, but Timothée Chalamet who is chasing through the New York chaos as a survivalist driven by his own greed – and instead of jewels, this time it's about table tennis.
Typical Safdie – the protagonist rushes through New York!
New York, 1952: Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) sells shoes, but for him it's just a means to an end. After all, he is absolutely sure that he will become rich as the world's best table tennis player anyway – and so he only needs the unloved job in his uncle's (Larry Ratso Sloman) shop to be able to finance his participation in an important tournament in Paris. When he played in the French metropolis, he caused a lot of offense with his cocky behavior, but at the plate he actually dominated the competition at will, while he got the press on his side with his extravagant statements. Marty already thinks he has reached the goal of his dreams when the Japanese player Endo (Koto Kawaguchi) gives him a cold finish in the final.
Back in the Big Apple, Marty only knows one destination. He definitely wants to take revenge at the upcoming World Cup in Japan. But he also needs money for that. Broke and homeless, Marty embarks on a wild odyssey to somehow find a way to pay for the trip to Japan. He meets, among others, his pregnant lover Rachel (Odessa A'zion), the ex-silent film icon Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), the very rich pen manufacturer Milton Rockwell (Kevin O'Leary) and the somehow quite scary dog lover Ezra (Abel Ferrara)…
Adrenaline, Alphaville and anachronisms
The opening of “Marty Supreme” already reveals the relationship to its predecessor: Where in “The Black Diamond” everything began with a gastroscopy, this time we follow Marty’s sperm on the way to Rachel’s egg. The sequence is accompanied by the eighties classic “Forever Young” by Alphaville. In his third Safdie collaboration, composer Daniel Lopatin repeatedly uses not only popular songs from the 80s, but also synthesizer sounds from the same era – even though the story is actually set three decades earlier. Such deliberate anachronisms give “Marty Supreme” something timeless, almost universal, right from the start.
As with previous Safdie films, the music's driving energy reinforces the ever-increasing thrill – with the loud clacking table tennis balls as an additional element of stress. “Marty Supreme” is another Safdie film that barely lets you breathe, but instead turns out to be a total sensory overload in the cinema. The sound, music, editing and the once again outstanding camera by Darius Khondji (“Seven”) develop an incredible pull that ensures that you not only watch Marty Mauser in his constant hunt, but almost physically experience it yourself.
It's not just at the table tennis table that things get busy.
Especially in the street scenes, a lot of handheld camera work is once again used. But this doesn't affect the overview; instead, it helps make the wild goings-on in “Marty Supreme” feel like real life. The fact that Josh Safdie is working here for the first time in a historical setting that dates back several decades must have been a special challenge. After all, so far we've worked a lot with open sets, meaning we shot without the usual barriers in the middle of New York, turning real passers-by into extras without being asked. Of course, that's not possible when a film is set in the 1950s – and yet it feels almost the same when the scenes full of people really vibrate again.
The fact that the director dug deep into the real table tennis scene of the 1940s and 1950s also ensures an authentic anchoring. In stories told by his uncle, he first heard about Lawrence's Table Tennis Club, which plays a key role in the film and is an almost mythical center of the New York ping-pong underground scene. Over the years, Josh Safdie dug deep into archives, anecdotes and dusty club photos to lay the foundation for his script.
Timothée Chalamet with an Oscar-worthy masterpiece!
In their search for true and genuine cinema, the Safdies deliberately did not cast professional actors for a long time. Instead, they wanted to shoot stories with people who actually experienced them. In “Heaven Knows What,” for example, the heroin-addicted homeless Arielle Holmes played a slightly fictionalized version of herself. It was only when Robert Pattinson asked her to work together that they gave up on “Good time” the previous rule. But the professionals are also required to fully engage with their characters – and apparently this condition regularly leads to career best performances.
Also Timothée Chalamet is better than ever in “Marty Supreme”. The fact that he trained table tennis for years at every opportunity and even during breaks in filming of blockbusters like “Dune” or “Wonka” is now particularly highlighted in the marketing campaign, probably also to convince potential Oscar voters. Above all, it helps the film – especially in the breathtaking rallies with professionals (German legend Timo Boll also makes an appearance). Even more impressive, however, is how Chalamet embodies the character, loosely based on real-life table tennis player Marty Reisman, through all of her brief triumphs and violent defeats.
Marty and his buddy always find a way to make some money.
Chalamet is not the “Beautiful Boy” here, he is a windy, sometimes repulsive and unpleasantly arrogant petty crook. He can always just keep his head out of the loop with his talk, only to ruin everything again with the next cocky words. Marty Mauser has many similarities to Adam Sandler's Howard Ratner from “The Black Diamond” – right down to her own unique appeal that not only women fall for, but also the audience.
Even when he steals from his bedmate during sex, Marty makes it seem less like a crime and more like an act of rebellion against the establishment – and in the next scene, the cocky braggart quite naturally has a plumber come along to painstakingly fish the hidden diamonds out of the shower drain. A happy-go-lucky guy who doesn't have a cent in his pocket at the moment, but behaves in the 5-star hotel suite as if the whole world belongs to him.
A “real asshole” is also part of the cast!
Even though “Marty Supreme” is clearly the film of the ever-present Timothée Chalamet, it also comes across as a large ensemble piece in which the casting also shows the tried and tested Safdie signature: established acting stars like Gwyneth Paltrow or Fran “Die Nanny” Drescher are cast in parts tailored specifically to them. In typical Safdie fashion, the more than 100 speaking roles are largely played by people from the street and other professions. As already mentioned, some table tennis players also take part – Marty's biggest opponent, Endo, is played by the Japanese deaf table tennis champion Koto Kawaguchi.
From rapper Tyler The Creator as Marty's crook buddy to the young actress descended from the German Adlon dynasty Odessa A'zion as a friend who takes her fate into her own hands in her own way: “Marty Supreme” is once again filled with brilliant casting decisions! The biggest coup, however, is the casting of Millionaire Kevin O‛Leary as a very rich creep. O‛Leary's TV appearances in the North American versions of the investor show “The Lion's Den” are as famous as they are infamous – he sometimes even causes candidates to burst into tears. According to O'Leary, the director offered him the role with the following statement: “We're looking for a real asshole. And that's you!” And in this respect he really delivers when, as a disgusting millionaire, he doesn't even have a problem blaming a concentration camp survivor for the death of his own son during the Second World War.
Superstar Gwyneth Paltrow is also part of the sensational cast.
An epic running time of 149 minutes allows Josh Safdie to let his hero Marty go through hell in detail – and not a second of it is boring! Table tennis has probably never been staged as excitingly as in the extensively celebrated rallies. The fact that the sports duels are often filmed in longer shots with the opponents clearly visible never seems like pure showing off. Of course, it once again underlines how intensively Chalamet has prepared for his role and how outstandingly he has actually mastered the sport.
But the long, seamless rallies convey above all the dynamics of these duels. Every smash is intense, every trick shot is spectacular – and above all, every sudden stop ball comes as a surprise. And that is probably the greatest quality of “Marty Supreme”: whether at the table tennis table or in the streets of New York – you never know what will happen next and delight us.
Conclusion: Feverish, nerve-racking, full of chaotic energy and yet masterfully controlled! Timothée Chalamet plays here on a completely new level, supported by a production that makes table tennis as exciting as a thriller. 149 minutes of full throttle – and not a second of it feels predictable.