{"id":204101,"date":"2025-12-26T01:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/204101\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T01:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:04:08","slug":"what-marty-supreme-loses-in-its-quest-to-be-the-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/204101\/","title":{"rendered":"What “Marty Supreme” loses in its quest to be the best"},"content":{"rendered":"

One Friday morning last November, A24<\/a> and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet<\/a> cross-posted an 18-minute-long video<\/a> to their respective social media platforms. The clip, cleverly titled
\u201cTimothee_Chalamet_internal_brand_marketing_meeting_MartySpreme_11.08.2025.mp4,\u201d sees Chalamet playing a version of himself in a fake Zoom meeting with what is ostensibly A24\u2019s marketing team for the actor\u2019s latest film, \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d ready to bounce their ideas off the Chalamet.<\/p>\n

To the team\u2019s surprise, Chalamet has come prepared with his own set of promotional tactics for director Josh Safdie\u2019s<\/a> breakneck-paced film about Marty Mauser, a fictional 1950s ping-pong prodigy who will stop at nothing to achieve greatness. Chalamet\u2019s marketing deck is full of outrageous, sky-high ideas, like an orange blimp that drops ping pong balls as it sails over Los Angeles. When a member of the marketing team chimes in to suggest that might be a safety hazard, Chalamet volleys back: \u201cIf it\u2019s the difference between someone losing an arm putting out the movie, but someone gaining an arm intellectually when they see it, I\u2019m a fan of the latter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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(A24) Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet as Marty Mauser in \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d<\/p>\n

Chalamet\u2019s shameless drive rubs some the wrong way. Pride can make the line between confidence and arrogance so thin it disappears. And in \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d Chalamet has found an instantly career-defining role playing a version of himself, equally matched in fervor and sick persistence.<\/p>\n

Chalamet is, of course, playing a character\u00a0\u2014 an outsized version of himself, built atop the already aggrandized persona he\u2019s become known for in his relatively short career. Earlier this year, I wrote<\/a> about how Chalamet\u2019s stunts promoting his Bob Dylan biopic, \u201cA Complete Unknown<\/a>,\u201d were a refreshing take on the modern movie promo tour, complete with wigs, college campus rallies and abstract social media videos. Chalamet was going all-out, making an unabashed bid for his long-coveted Oscar, yet none of it worked. The film was a snooze, hardly worth the actor\u2019s mighty talents. Chalamet, however, hasn\u2019t been deterred, rightfully pushing his Oscar-hungry image to new heights in the \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d press tour, creating a symbiotic thread between the film\u2019s ambitious table tennis star, the determined actor playing him, and the real Chalamet, who fits somewhere in between.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Chalamet\u2019s shameless drive rubs some the wrong way. By his own words, Chalamet is in pursuit of greatness and believes<\/a> he\u2019s been turning in \u201ctop-of-the-line\u201d performances for almost a decade. (And, I\u2019ll add, he isn\u2019t wrong.) But knowing your talent, speaking to it, and refusing to apologize for it can be alienating and lonely. Pride can make the line between confidence and arrogance so thin it disappears. And in \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d Chalamet has found an instantly career-defining role playing a version of himself, equally matched in fervor and sick persistence. It\u2019s a gripping feat, watching Marty barrel through New York City streets, sprinting toward a question with no answer, wondering which direction will take him to the top. But amid all that crackling electricity, everything around Marty begins to blur. Characters who could sharpen the story into something even more emotionally potent are left in the dust as mere stepping stones to propel the film\u2019s central narrative. In this way, \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d is a meta tale of what\u2019s expendable on the quest for glory; not just what Marty loses, but what Chalamet and Safdie are willing to sacrifice to make one of the finest films of the year.<\/p>\n

A little effusive charm goes a long way in dismissing all of the showboat swagger that Chalamet and Marty share, and that natural allure is what makes the actor and his latest \u2014 and perhaps greatest \u2014 character not just tolerable, but lovable. From the moment Marty, working as a clerk in a shoe shop, helps an elderly woman find the perfect pair of pumps in the film\u2019s opening sequence, the starpower is undeniable. This kid\u2019s got the stuff. He could sell a pair of Mary Janes to a giraffe if it meant earning an extra lick of commission to use for his trip across the pond for the table tennis semi-final tournament he believes will cement his name.<\/p>\n

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But already, Marty\u2019s dodging obstacles. Things don\u2019t come easily for this scrawny, pimple-faced prodigy, especially when the goal is becoming the proud, Jewish face of a burgeoning sport. Marty\u2019s uncle Murray (Larry Sloman) wants him to step up to manage the shoe store, which would conveniently keep him local to help his mother, Rebecca (Fran Drescher<\/a>), with her many faux health scares and nagging requests. And then there\u2019s Rachel (Odessa A\u2019zion), Marty\u2019s best friend since childhood, determined to lock Marty down despite living one story below him with her husband. None of this is any concern of Marty\u2019s. Table tennis is the only thing on his mind, and not just table tennis, but being synonymous with the sport \u2014 of being the only player left standing as the opponents dwindle and the room quiets to a galvanized hush. In Marty\u2019s mind, he\u2019s already a star, and stars can take five-hour lunches from their minimum wage jobs. But when Uncle Murray refuses to pay up, and Marty has to pilfer the money for his trip, the road to global eminence takes some sharp turns.<\/p>\n

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(A24) Gwyneth Paltrow and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet in \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d<\/p>\n

The viewer\u2019s in for an unexpected twist, too, seeing as all of these characters but Rachel will soon be afterthoughts, tossed aside to maintain a constant laser focus on Marty\u2019s hijinks. One might assume Drescher\u2019s presence on the call sheet would equate to a sizable role in the film. Frustratingly, that\u2019s not so. By the time Marty\u2019s competing in his tournament, family is the last thing on his mind. He tells reporters as much during a mini junket he organizes for himself over breakfast at the Ritz London, where Marty puts himself up despite having no way to pay for such luxurious accommodations. Marty tosses out the bald-faced lie that his mother died in childbirth with the nonchalance of ordering another coffee, before the orbital pull in the room shifts. Enter Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow<\/a>), a once-renowned, now-retired film actress waltzing across the lobby with her husband, the pen and ink magnate Milton Rockwell (Kevin O\u2019Leary<\/a>). All of the attention, including Marty\u2019s, is on Kay, and when Marty Mauser sets his sights on something, he sees in tunnel vision. It\u2019s not enough to be the best in the world; he has to screw the most adored person in the room, as if to subsume Kay\u2019s glow. Everything \u2014 sex, sport and spite \u2014 is a means to an end.<\/p>\n

Safdie and Chalamet work the same way. The film is as much a meta story of Chalamet\u2019s ambition as it is Safdie\u2019s. If you\u2019ve been witness to what the director and his brother, Benny, did with their pair of raucous shockers \u201cGood Time<\/a>\u201d and \u201cUncut Gems<\/a>,\u201d you can guess what might be ahead: The stakes must always get higher, no matter the cost. Safdie raises them once more when Marty battles Koto Endo (table tennis star Koto Kawaguchi), the highly ranked Japanese player poised to be Marty\u2019s only competition. Both Marty and Endo have a chance to bring glory to their people in a post-war world. Marty sees winning as a much-needed public victory for the Jewish race, while Endo\u2019s is a triumph for Japan after America\u2019s relentless and atomic destruction. Their rivalry presents fascinating and dynamic challenges for the viewer to chew on, but only Marty\u2019s character is truly rewarded with the extra depth. Endo is, by and large, a footnote in Safdie\u2019s exploration of the perils of post-war nationalism, there to be Marty\u2019s foil and another narrative inflection point.<\/p>\n

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(James Devaney\/GC Images\/Getty Images) Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet on the set of \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty Supreme\u201d is not just a film; it\u2019s a hypothesis. Safdie and Chalamet are covertly pushing the limits. How much can the public, the press and the Academy voters take?<\/p>\n

Though, as eager as I am to understand more about those standing in Marty\u2019s way, the more I find myself thinking \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d wouldn\u2019t be half the film it is if Safdie lingered on anyone but his titular striver for too long. Too much time spent on Marty\u2019s mother or his fierce opponent would distract from the film\u2019s momentum, reducing it to simply a sports movie, and not a conclusive treatise on the cruelty of desire.<\/p>\n

These casualties are aggravating, sure, but they allow Chalamet\u2019s star to shine so bright that it blinds. Marty lures his foes and his friends with the same ease that Chalamet draws the viewer. A simple, flirtatious phone call between Kay and Marty is Chalamet\u2019s greatest proof of concept yet: a swooning, debonair and slightly arrogant display of wanton charisma. Safdie and Chalamet are showing off, and it works. This is Chalamet\u2019s whole thing, his it factor in full, glorious view. The silver screen hasn\u2019t seen such a cocksure performance since the tabloid heartthrobs from the turn of the millennium. And yet, never lose sight of the fact that Chalamet is exactly the same person when the director calls cut. To aim the spotlight anywhere else for too long would be a disservice to the world, just the way Marty feels about his talents being squandered by everyone back in New York, hoping he\u2019ll conform to a life he doesn\u2019t feel destined for. When Kay asks him what he\u2019s thought about doing if he doesn\u2019t win, Marty replies, \u201cThat doesn\u2019t even enter my consciousness.\u201d No doubt Chalamet shares this single-mindedness.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty Supreme\u201d is not just a film; it\u2019s a hypothesis. Safdie and Chalamet are intent on making the best possible version of what this movie can be, yes, but they\u2019re covertly pushing the limits. How much can the public, the press and the Academy voters take? Will the relentless pursuit of distinction in your field always alienate those around you \u2014 and in turn, keep your goals forever out of reach \u2014 as it does for Marty, or is this level of ambition so undeniable it must be rewarded? That orange blimp Chalamet jokingly suggested did, in fact, happen, just without the ping-pong balls dropped from the sky. And Chalamet has been hopping from New York to London to Brazil, touting \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d as his crowning achievement. The distinction between actor and character is hazy at best, and that\u2019s all part of the experiment.<\/p>\n

Whatever Oscars \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d happens to pick up next year will be the defining measure of what Chalamet and Safdie are doing together with this project. The film is a brilliant, madcap, offensive, all-American, seat-gripping crowdpleaser because Chalamet and his director are the way they are: motivated to a fault, happy to pad their film with all the right elements and disperse them when they\u2019re no longer needed. While Safdie deeming those aspects disposable keeps \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d from being a truly perfect film, it wouldn\u2019t be half as good if its concentration drifted from Marty for more than a minute. There\u2019s a limit to how well-rounded this particular film can be. For Marty and his namesake film, perfection is not attainable. But sometimes, its pursuit delivers something even more interesting and memorable than a banal picture of perfection: someone to root for, flaws and all.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

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