Marty Supreme

Marty Supreme

Director ~ Josh Safdie

Writers ~ Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein

2025, Finland-USA

Stars ~ Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion

 

More Safdie-stress with Josh’s ‘MARTY SUPREME’, set in 1950s ping-pong world with incongruous 1980s pop hits and focused on a Timothée Chalamet everything-in performance. The Safdie approach is a compelling and perhaps career-best central performance, a stellar cast with a sprinkling of surprise cameos, a breathless pacing kept buoyant by a striking soundtrack, and a piling-on of mostly misfortune brought on by the protagonist’s assholeness. It’s a full coarse meal featuring period recreation a bonus. An obvious Chalamet passion project that saw him putting the muscle in for a canny and aggressive marketing campaign that screamed of its own importance, ‘Marty Supreme’ came on with all the insouciance of its eponymous protagonist.

Yes, there is nothing here that wasn’t covered gloriously in ‘Uncut Gems’, even another excellent score by Daniel Lopatin. Not a fan of incongruous songs on the score, although that’s the postmodern way, and even if they are too on-the-nose I admit the use of ‘Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime’ hit me just right. Expensive for A24 studio, indulgent, sometimes reaching greatness, a description of one man’s stubbornness and delusion. Still, even after following such a selfish hustler for hours and deciding he isn’t worth rooting for because of all the damage he’s done, the third act is still riveting. On the way, it is perhaps Chalamet’s fencing with Gwyneth Paltrow that is best, and the cameos by Abel Ferrara and Tyler the Creator that stand out. Perhaps the ending frustrates because the whole film has been about the dangers of  narcissism when you Follow Your Dream at the expense of everything and everyone else. Is that the American Way? – Discuss. The arrogance of con-your-way-to-greatness?