Marty Supreme
Good Time and Uncut Gems cemented the Safdie brothers as an urgent voice in contemporary cinema. With the brothers now acting independently, Benny directing The Smashing Machine, Josh releases his solo debut, Marty Supreme. Timothée Chalamet stars as Marty Mauser, a working-class New Yorker who is something of a table tennis sensation and feels he is destined for greatness no matter the cost. It loosely draws from the life of a real 1950s and 60s table tennis player, Marty Reisman.
Far from being a conventional sports biopic, this has all the frenetic, off-kilter energy of the Safdies’s earlier work. It is certainly not what audiences might expect from a film about ping pong: thrilling, visceral, and unpredictable. The thing that holds it all together amid the chaos is Chalamet’s central performance. While he has balanced intimate character-driven pieces and huge blockbusters with Dune and Wonka, this feels like a role he has been building towards for the past decade. Marty has shades of a young John McEnroe with an unbridled desire to succeed, no matter the obstacle thrown into his path (and there are numerous). There’s an irrepressible vivacity to his performance, an infectious energy to him that radiates off the screen, like an uncontainable puppy.
While Chalamet is very much at the film’s core, the supporting cast ably assist him, with Gwyneth Paltrow delivering her finest performance in many years as the fading film and stage star Kay Stone, who forms a kinship with Marty. Odessa A’zion is also terrific as Marty’s childhood friend Rachel Mizler.
Josh Safdie finds an immaculate balance between edge-of-your-seat tension that builds throughout, moments of real comedy and gripping sports drama. It’s a cocktail that threatens to fall apart, but he manages to hold it together. Daniel Lopatin’s 80s-inspired synth score helps to accompany the madness with a selection of needle drops interpolated into the score, including tracks from Peter Gabriel, Alphaville and Tears for Fears. It’s audacious and has no right in working as well as it does, but like its protagonist, this is a film full of aspirations that it manages to accomplish.
Marty Supreme is one of the year’s strongest films and looks set to feature heavily come awards season. It is anchored by Timothée Chalamet’s magnetic lead performance and hair-raising energy throughout. It really cements Josh Safdie as a force in his own right, away from his brother. A singular work that is likely to become a future classic.
Christopher Connor
Marty Supreme is released nationwide on 26th December 2025.
Watch the trailer for Marty Supreme here:
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