It is 1952 and Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) has a dream of being not only the next table-tennis world champion, but also a household name by way of the many business opportunities that his greatness should lead to. The issue is that Marty is a working class nobody and despite his obvious talents he needs to be a world class grifter to get where he needs to be. 

Marty Supreme is a superb film. It runs at a million miles per hour for its entire 149 minute duration with the sort of immediacy that is likely to make you feel as worn out as one of its main character’s table-tennis matches. The overlapping dialogue and frantic happenings a hallmark of co-writer and director Josh Safdie’s previous film with his brother Benny Uncut Gems. This past year has seen the Safdie brothers making solo projects in the sphere of the sports biopic genre. But whilst Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine was a more conventional sports biopic based on a true story, here Josh Safdie’s film is inspired by real life player Marty Reisman, but only enough to be a springboard to this fictional film that can cover much larger themes of The American Dream, privilege and class. 

Our main character Marty is a wonderful creation played with panache by one of the best actors of his generation Timothee Chalamet. In fact his character should be deplorable, yet Chalamet bestows upon him the sort of frantic energy that makes you believe that he really thinks this is the only way he can get to his dream. At various points in the film Mauser abandons his childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A’zion) whom he has got pregnant and is having an affair with, steals from multiple people including Hollywood star Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) whom he is also having an affair with behind the back of her businessman husband Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary) whom he is desperately trying to get to back him financially. No one is safe from Marty’s absolute single minded desire to make his way to the table-tennis World Championships in Japan. Yet, you never find yourself hating Marty. 

In terms of casting it is not just Chalamet who turns in a rousing performance. Josh Safdie’s casting is somewhat idiosyncratic in his choices but he somehow nails it. Gwyneth Paltrow’s film credits have taken a back seat to her own entrepreneurial enterprises recently but she is wonderful as a past-it actress desperately seeking a means to feel something. Kevin O’Leary, in his first acting role is more famous for being a businessman and appearing in reality investment TV shows Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den. Here he is rather formidable as the cutthroat businessman with a trophy wife and with the power and money to do whatever he chooses. Perhaps the casting was simply a reflection or exaggeration of the real person but it certainly works. And then there is the selection of uncompromising film director Abel Ferrara as a rather scary man named Ezra which again just delivers a perfect performance. It would be remiss of me to not mention Odessa A’zion who previously worked with the Safdies on Uncut Gems who plays a woman who loves Marty in a way that humanises him for the audience. 

Josh Safdie and Timothee Chalamet have delivered something wonderfully special with Marty Supreme. Ostensibly a sports movie with some stylish sporting action this film gets under the skin of what it takes to achieve the American Dream and underlines how some people’s starting line is ahead of others.