"This is really some top-level s---."
Timothée Chalamet didn't mince words when journalist Margaret Gardiner asked about his newest film, "Marty Supreme." Up until its Christmas Day release, the general public was told to expect A-level work, whether that message came through run-of-the-mill talk show interviews, a garishly orange "Marty Supreme" blimp floating over the LA skyline or Chalamet nabbing a feature on UK underground sensation EsDeeKid's "4 Raws."
And Santa delivered. In A24's movie about Marty Mauser (Chalamet), a young table tennis prodigy, and his pursuit of greatness in the postwar 1950s, Chalamet calls his own number and scores.
But "Marty Supreme" is a movie about table tennis in the same way Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" is about its canvas — the sport is merely the medium to convey a story about ambition and what said ambition can get someone, for better and for worse.
Director Josh Safdie's earlier endeavors in "Good Time" and "Uncut Gems" have earned him a well-deserved reputation for his flair for the chaotic in cinema. Within "Marty Supreme's" 149-minute run time, Safdie curates a vibrantly hectic wild goose chase that, while centered in New York's gritty Lower East Side, spans from the Pyramids of Giza to Tokyo.
Although comprehensive worldbuilding and first-rate cinematography set the tone, the music turned the film's ambience from good to great. Daniel Lopatin's score is synth-heavy, merging flute with flowing electronica in an ethereal fashion.
The soundtrack, laden with maximalist 1980s needle drops from New Order and Tears For Fears, bolsters Mauser's 80s-athlete demeanor and underscores that throughout this movie, he is a man before his time and out of time.
While Chalamet certainly spearheaded the "Marty Supreme" craze, the supporting cast did their job and then some, with each character holding complex dreams and motivations of their own.
Odessa A'zion was stellar, acting as a compelling foil (who deserved far more screen time) to Chalamet's character. Tyler, The Creator moved out of the studio and onto the set, playing a comic relief role that, while similar to his real-life persona, remained a strong acting debut.
Gwyneth Paltrow returned to the spotlight with a surprisingly endearing depiction of an actress fallen from grace, striving for her next shot. "Shark Tank's" very own Kevin O'Leary effectively played himself, assuming the role of a cold-blooded, radically capitalistic pen tycoon.
But Chalamet stood head and shoulders above the rest, delivering an Oscar-worthy performance.
The range of emotion that Chalamet delivers throughout the film cannot be understated. He bounces from having a young athlete's arrogance to a debonair Paul Newman-esque charm, punctuating the film with glimpses of nigh-genuine vulnerability that seal the deal as his best performance to date.
Chalamet's generational execution was a necessity to understand the movie's purpose.
Marty Mauser is by no means a role model. He'll sweet-talk a movie star into cheating on her husband and rob his uncle's business at gunpoint, all to achieve his supposedly divine purpose of becoming the best table tennis player in the world. Mauser is morally repugnant, yet it's paradoxically hard not to root for him throughout his journey.
That fine line between inspiration and disgust is where "Marty Supreme" lives and thrives.
Audiences like an underdog, and Mauser is just that. He's skinny, scrappy and disrespected at every turn of the film. He maintains a strong Jewish identity on the heels of the Holocaust, he is forced to hustle as a salesman or pickup ping-ponger to make every dollar and the sport he plays — table tennis, his lifeblood — is derided as a mere vaudeville act.
Despite it all, he has ambition and confidence in spades. In the film, he dubs himself "Hitler's worst nightmare," someone who cannot be brought down no matter what's thrown his way. Give Mauser an inch, and he'll scratch and claw to take a mile.
At some base level, that determination is inspiring, but then he'll promptly let you down by neglecting the mother of his future child to get more reps in at the tables.
Safdie turns the silver screen into a mirror. Marty Mauser is the hyperbolic culmination of hustle culture, "Keeping Up with the Joneses," and the workism-heavy attitudes that define the era we live and participate in.
He is the best and worst of the 2020s grindset, playing hero and villain in the same scene. His hunger, grit and desire to be remembered are traits that should be valued, but they're then juxtaposed with his unsavory Machiavellian, manospheric philosophies not terribly dissimilar from what's being disseminated to teenagers on TikTok in the present day.
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Mauser is not a man to idolize, but rather a tale from which to take heed. The external pursuit of greatness must be encouraged, but not without internal greatness of character.
Expect a strong showing at awards season. A24's newest hit is something special, or dare I say, "supreme."
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Editor's note: The opinions presented in this review are the author's and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
Edited by Kasturi Tale, Jack McCarthy and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at stroeste@asu.edu and follow @samtroester on X.
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Sam is a junior studying political science with a minor in business. This is his second semester with The State Press.
