Marty Supreme Review

In his SAG-AFTRA speech following his Best Actor win for A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet claimed he wanted to be “one of the greats.” It’s that attitude he has brought to every one of his films, but it takes some real guts to say it. More than most have is needed to then back such a statement up, and that’s exactly what Chalamet has done with Marty Supreme, a divine piece of work that’ll headline his filmography above all else. When it comes to listing his great works, it will be above Dune, ahead of Call Me By Your Name, and pushing aside his role in Bones and All. Most actors have a small pocket of performances as great as this in them, but there is no doubt Marty Supreme is the start of some great moment for Chalamet, backed by considerably weighty performances in material he has consistently elevated by being there and aware of what is at stake. 

Chalamet has embodied that SAG-AFTRA speech here as the titular character of this Josh Safdie film. Supreme is a man driven by what we all should have, a dream, no matter how niche or ridiculous it is, it’s what keeps him going. Seeing that unfold is fantastic, and the dissonance that forms the friends, family, and relationships around Supreme is integral to that. Impulsiveness, attitude, lust, it all plays a part in the plot which keeps Chalamet right at the centre with a staggering performance. There’ll be the inevitable Uncut Gems comparison, and that’s accurate, Chalamet takes on the Adam Sandler role of a plucky hopeful with an honest chance of success, so long as he is given time to prove it from those without it left to give. Safdie has found a style and plot direction that suits him, but there are little avenues of interest to pursue in Marty Supreme, and they come from the most unlikely of places in this film inspired by professional table tennis player, Marty Reisman.   

Kevin O’Leary, Tyler, the Creator, and Abel Ferrara are crucial in their own ways to the weighty and often wry mania of the mid-section. They do extremely well, whether it’s as big a supporting role as O’Leary plays or as minute a detail as Ferrara provides in his few scenes, in bringing together the influences that are in Supreme’s life and, by extension, if you can relate to a loathsome yet lovable character, your own. Gwyneth Paltrow is tremendous, too, the dreams we put on hold never to late to be rekindled in later years, as shown by her character’s own three-act pay-off. Satisfaction around every corner for the characters here, though not in getting what they want, but in showing valuable lessons to an audience. Odessa A’zion is crucial to displaying the darker side to an already dark film, the 1950s setting lost a little in the ensemble but captured well in those moments between Supreme and Rachel Mizler (A’zion). 

Crucially, though, is Safdie maintaining a tremendous flow and flare while all these plot points converge. Pulling it off is close to a masterstroke, and professional table tennis player Koto Kawaguchi, and the whole game itself, is the key to all that. Supreme is a man with the blinkers on, whose own destiny and self-belief comes before anything else. It takes an almost Herculean effort to kick someone back, to give them the breathing room needed to realise what they think they want isn’t what they truly want. Marty Supreme toys with that theme well and brings it all together with some of the most exhilarating material Chalamet has ever worked with. Hopefully, this style of drama, this frenetic energy he brings in a performance he loses himself in, will not be his last. How could it be? Truly electrifying work that, eventually, points out dreams are just that. A low blow of an end, but there’s some truth in the nastiness Marty Supreme showcases.