Electric 'Marty Supreme' puts the action in transactional relationships
A24
Most filmmakers couldn’t sustain the pace of a Ping-Pong match in the rest of a table tennis movie; the downshift away from competition would be tire-screeching. Yet director/co-writer Josh Safdie, working solo from his brother Benny (the disappointing, dull “The Smashing Machine”), continues the propulsive momentum of “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems” while delivering a highly entertaining movie worth unpacking.
In a tremendous performance unafraid to be unlikable and yet always charismatic, Timothee Chalamet is Marty Mauser, a fast-talking, 23-year-old Ping-Pong whiz in 1952 who treats every conversation likes a sales opportunity. It leads to many people falling under his spell and a lot of balloons eventually popped, trouble caused by Marty’s slippery personality and relationship with the truth. Underneath it all — as Marty fathers a child with his unhappily married friend (breakout star Odessa A’zion), hooks up with a (also unhappily married) movie star on extended hiatus (Gwyneth Paltrow), gets tangled up with her husband (Kevin O’Leary!), and much more — is a young Jewish man in the wake of WWII feeling like everything can be his as long as he never stops long enough for someone to contain him.
It’s easy to want to use words like “ride” or “energy” when talking about a Safdie movie, and “Marty Supreme,” loosely inspired by real-life table tennis player Marty Reisman, is something like a restless conveyor belt, always in forward motion without any suggestion that there will be much relief. Meanwhile, 145 minutes flies by as Marty has little money and a lot of promises and is just as likely to pull out of a jam as create another one immediately. Together, Chalamet and Safdie (working again with co-writer Ronald Bronstein) create tension out of relationships whose transactions are always in flux, and have the ability to wound emotionally and/or physically no matter how short-lived they might be. This is the kind of movie where you can play pick your favorite scene or supporting performance (the casting, including everyone from Abel Ferrara to George Gervin to Tyler, the Creator to Penn Jillette, is beyond inspired) and have five voters with five different choices.
Count the lies, marvel at the swagger, admire the spot-on score by Daniel Lopatin. But also recognize how miraculous it is to keep this galaxy of plates spinning so relentlessly while blending ambition and hustle into something invigorating and dangerous about determination, salesmanship, international relations and antisemitism. “I’m the ultimate product of Hitler’s defeat,” Marty insists, one of many large and inflammatory statements. In “Marty Supreme,” there’s no question what Marty can achieve, and plenty of reason to wonder what he will.
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