Marty Supreme sold me on Timothée Chalamet

While I have come to respect Timothée Chalamet as an actor - primarily due to his role in the Dune movies, to me he is still not that calibre of actor whose name alone will draw me to a movie, such was the case with Marty Supreme. What did draw me to the movie though was the director, Joshua Safdie. While he may be best known to most people for the movie Uncut Gems, a movie I missed out on seeing, I know him from an earlier work of his with Robert Pattinson: Good Time. I saw that movie like 6 years ago so even though I don’t remember any details, I remember enjoying it. In that movie what stood out to me Roberts performance rather than the direction, but perhaps with Marty Supreme, Joshua Safdie can leave his mark in my head as a note-worthy director.

The story revolves around Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) a young American ping-pong player that has great ambitions and wants to gain recognition beyond the USA. He competes in the world championship only to lose to Japan in the finals, but he is determined to compete with this opponent once again. That said, this is a task easier said than done and we will follow Marty as he tries to make his dream become a reality. He will have to deal with people around him that we are unsure what their intentions are, or even what Marty’s intensions are towards them, and there is an uncertainty that is always present in the movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I’ll start by saying this; Timothée Chalamet has now won me over. While he hasn’t reached a level where he would immediately come to mind when thinking of great actors, I am beginning to understand the high regard a lot of people hold him in. He was amazing in this film. He gets absolutely lost in his character and it was a joy to pay attention to the small details in his acting. Every moment and every situation there is something to be observed in either his mannerisms or his facial reactions. What was particularly impressive to me was how he was able to keep up the acting during the more physical scenes. In addition to the ping-pong scenes, there are a quite a few scenes that involve some type of physical challenge such as running away from something, fighting, etc. During this scenes, Timothée was able to stay in character and you would still see Marty and his characteristics. Other than Timothée’s acting which has an incredible range in the movie, credit must be given to how he actually learned Ping-pong. I’m not talking about weeks or months, he trained for YEARS. An amazing dedication that definitely paid off, as he was able to not just play the games but also keep up the acting. A fantastic performance.

The rest of the cast put on a good performance as well. Gwyneth Paltrow over the past few years has popped in conversations for topics completely unrelated to acting, such as wired smelling candles and such, but in this movie she puts on an ok performance, a reminder that she is actress after all. Odessa A'zion though, she puts on an actually good performance and is convincing in her role. Her scenes require more emotions and range compared to those of Paltrow, hence the reason I think she was able to shine more and flex her acting muscles. Tyler The Creator is in this movie, he doesn’t have a lot of screen time but he’s there. While in some scenes it appears as if he’s simply channelling his real life persona into the character, there are others scenes where he actually acts. There is a part of me that wishes he had more screentime, but his inclusion in the movie can still be appreciated as it is. Overall, the rest of the cast pull their weight and the movie is not pulled down by anyone. Timothée steals the show but the entire cast helps in setting a high bar for the movie in terms of acting quality.

What about the movie and its story? The energy of the story felt very similar to what I remember from Good Time, that is because in a lot of ways they are similar. Both stories follow an antagonist who in order to reach a certain goal, must constantly overcome the obstacles in their way and deal with complications and problems as they arise along the way. They are chaotic movies so they do not have a problem in the pace department as everything and everyone is almost always moving. While the energy might be the same, the characters and the plot are different, different enough to make the movie stand apart from Good Time, don’t know if the same can be said in relation to Uncut Gems. There are definitely lessons that the story likes to get across regarding ego, narcissism, chasing you dreams and whatnot, so you could have a conversations discussing that if it is important to you. This is possible because the movie is written well, this includes the dialogue, the plot and its twists, the characters, and the events and their flow. On a surface level the story of the movie is entertaining and the constant progression and twists maintain your attention during the more than 2 hour runtime of the movie, but I imagine that you can also delve deeper into it and appreciate it on a more profound level.

The movie is elevated further by the music and cinematography. I’d say for most of the movie these elements are above average and very good, which along with the actors and story keep you invested as the plot continues. And then there are moments where the cinematography and music just blow you away, especially the music. The best of these are saved for the most important moments of the movie and because of that they hit so hard. I say cinematography and musical score, but it is really everything else, including sound design, production, and editing, that come together to make the movie look and sound the way it does. Apart from scenes that are just highly cinematic, there are some scenes that are super weird but somehow still fit into the movie. I think the perfect example of this is the intro for the credits of the movie, which I am not even gonna hint at. It just took me off guard in a very funny way.

The movie has its comedic moments as well. It has a lot of moments filled with different types of emotions, and it juggles these very well. I never found myself getting a tonal whiplash that would break my immersion and take me out of the movie. I think the reason for that is that there are these neutral moments between different scenes, moments that allow you to sort of recover from what came before and prepare you for what comes next. Though there are still a lot of emotions and scenes that happen suddenly without any preparation, and yet, these still feel like a natural part of the story and plot. Marty Supreme is a roller coaster of emotions and feelings that all fit together and into the movie without a problem.

I’m not sure I even have any complaints about the movie. Some very few scenes dragged a tiny bit long and even in lesser few the dialogue was a little hard to hear, but that’s about it to be honest. There was no big problem that plagued the entire movie or that brought the experience down. The movie was overall a joy.

Joshua Safdie brings us yet another chaotic movie filled with all types of emotions. Marty Supreme is well written, well directed, and has great cinematography and music. The story can be enjoyed on a superficial level and can also be delved into to find messages or meanings hidden in the movie. The cast is also solid and no one lacks about. While all of these qualities make for a great movie, it is Timothée’s performance that brings it up another notch. So not only does he contribute significantly to the quality of the movie, but he also presents a performance that I think many people will consider one of his best.