Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.
‘Marty Supreme’ is the first film from Josh Safdie since he and his brother Benny decided to pursue solo careers after their success as a partnership, and on the evidence here, Josh is going to do just fine. ‘Marty Supreme’ tells the story of Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet), a shoe salesman who is also a professional table tennis player at a time when that alone isn’t enough to make a living. Set in the early 1950s, the film follows Marty as he scraps, saves and swindles to get the cash he needs to travel abroad and enter tournaments, starting with the prestigious British Open in London, where he believes he can beat his friend and defending champion, Hungarian Bela Kletzki (Géza Röhrig, so good in ‘Son of Saul’). The only thing that perhaps matches Marty’s ambition is his ego.
The script is loosely based on the life and career of Marty Reisman, an American table tennis player, but if you’re expecting a conventional sports drama, prepare to be surprised. This is really a character study of a hustler with lofty ambitions that he can’t quite sustain, driven by an absolute tour de force performance from Timothée Chalamet. He’s a perfect match for the frenetic energy of Safdie’s pacing and direction, and it’s hard to take your eyes off him, a performance so charismatic and exhausting that it is no surprise he is favourite for the Best Actor award at this year’s Oscars. That breathless momentum, familiar from Safdie Brothers films like ‘Good Time’ and ‘Uncut Gems’, returns here and makes what is a 150-minute film fly by.
The casting is particularly striking, pairing an as good as she’s been in years Gwyneth Paltrow as a fading actress with newer faces like Odessa A’zion, alongside an eclectic group of non-professional performers. Kevin O’Leary is especially strong, while Abel Ferrara is superbly cast as a gangster, adding to the film’s gritty feel. Safdie’s direction is confident throughout, supported by a great score from Daniel Lopatin and production design from Jack Fisk that firmly situates the film in the scuzzy, gritty New York of the era.
Ultimately, ‘Marty Supreme’ is a film about ambition and the way ego grows alongside it, and the cost of pursuing success with such single-minded intensity that everything else becomes collateral damage. Marty’s determination and self-belief are what propel him forward, but they’re also what prevent him from recognising what actually matters, pushing away the people who care about him through selfishness, impatience and an inability to slow down. Safdie approaches Marty with a degree of understanding rather than outright judgment, allowing the film to acknowledge both the damage he causes and the charisma that keeps people invested in him. The ending has proven more controversial than I thought it would in terms of the judgment it passes on Marty, but I felt it struck the right note, and could be read as ambiguous in terms of where Marty would go next.
‘Marty Supreme’ is an impressive and confidently made movie with Timothée Chalamet delivering the most charismatic and best performance of his relatively young career, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Rating: 4/5
Directed By: Josh Safdie
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara and Fran Drescher
'I have a purpose. If you think that it's some kind of blessing it's not. It means I have an obligation to see a very specific thing through.' Marty Supreme (2025) 