2025 hit us back-to-back with two Safdie brother pictures in its final three months. October saw the release of Benny Safdie’s, The Smashing Machine, an enjoyable vehicle for Dwayne Johnson to show his serious acting chops, but nothing revolutionary. Christmas Day saw the release of Josh’s picture, Marty Supreme, a story about a hustling table tennis player in the 1950s attempting to make it big. Whilst both films are sports movies and are, to an extent, biopics (Marty Supreme being loosely based on the life of real-world table tennis champion, Marty Reisman), they could not be more different. The Smashing Machine was meditative and low-key. Marty Supreme, on the other hand, seeks to dominate the world in the same way its main character does.
Consider the film’s marketing: from orange coloured branded ping pong balls, to a blimp, to a now viral “Marty Supreme” puffer jacket, the film’s advertisement has been relentless. Yet, this loud, aggressive and arrogant posturing in the movie’s promotion is completely accurate to the nature of the work. The picture is kinetic in its energy and epic in its scope despite its seemingly niche subject matter. It ploughs full speed ahead from one moment to the next and carries the same manic energy as the Safdie brothers’ earlier works, Good Time and Uncut Gems.
Marty Supreme also shares a similar amount of scheming, fast talking and lying, as the two aforementioned films. The middle section of the piece feels more like the story of a small time criminal than that of a table tennis player, with certain sequences having surprisingly lethal stakes for Marty. It would be amiss not to mention the film’s cast. Timothée Chalamet shines as Marty and his performance is essential to what makes the film work. He masterfully balances a character that is, at times, both annoyingly arrogant and deeply sympathetic. He is an underdog with illusions of grandeur who has the audience cheering for him despite his unlikability. Odessa A’Zion also turns in an admirable rendition as Marty’s ‘on and off-again’ girlfriend, Rachel, their relationship proving to be a key part of the film’s second and third acts. A’Zion and Chalamet have great on-screen chemistry, and their scenes together provide some of the film’s best moments. Gwyneth Paltrow’s performance as, past her prime actress Kay Stone was also a pleasant surprise. She lends her role a similar type of unlikability and sympathy as Chalamet does with Marty. This leads to both characters sharing a lot in common, despite being at two vastly different stages of their lives.
In short, Marty Supreme is a must see and probably the best send off to 2025 that could be asked for. At a time when cinema seems threatened by the looming spectre of streaming and more AI slop on our screens, Marty Supreme feels like an event of a movie that must be experienced on the big screen.
Photo by Conor Samuel on Unsplash