Hello everybody. I'm Dan Merl here with my thoughts on Marty Supreme, which doesn't hit theaters until December 25th, but I was lucky enough to see it a couple weeks ago, and the review embargo officially lifted this morning. However, I've had the notes for this review ready since the night I saw it when I hurriedly wrote everything down before I forgot what I was feeling, which might give you a clue about how I feel about the movie.
Marty Supreme is directed by Josh Safy from a script he wrote with Ronald Bronstein, who also collaborated with Josh and his brother Benny on screenplays for Uncut Gems and Good Time. Josh and Benny Safety directed both of those films together, but this year we've gotten solo projects from both of them. And I'm not sure what the nature of their collaboration is or was, but I was somewhat disappointed in Benny's The Smashing Machine, largely due to what I thought were some questionable storytelling and directing choices. Josh's film, on the other hand, feels right in line with the work that he and Benny have done together. So, take from that what you will. Timothy Shalomé stars in the movie as Marty Mouser, loosely based on a real life pingpong player.
We meet him as a disgruntled shoe salesman who already knows that he's going to be the most successful and famous pingpong player of all time. He just has to convince everybody else. Marty hustles his way toward the top until a new rival emerges, challenging him in ways that he's never experienced. The film follows his increasingly desperate quest to prove that he's the best in the world. His actions have consequences, those consequences have consequences, and eventually everything just begins to unravel.
Marty Supreme is a great example of how any subject matter can feel serious, no matter how goofy it might seem, if the film and its characters treat it that way. On the surface, the quest to become the world's greatest table tennis player doesn't really seem that high stakes, but in its execution, Marty Supreme is just as tension-filled as Uncut Gems or any other movie where you are deeply invested in a character's success or failure. And I think that's a credit to this movie's writing, directing, and acting.
One big reason that the movie works is that Marty is a great main character. He seems at first completely transparent, shallow even, but as the movie goes on, you realize that he's actually much more opaque. His surface level qualities are very easy to spot. He's driven and he's singularly focused on becoming great. The world isn't full of people, only allies or obstacles, nothing more and nothing in between. And you're either on board with his greatness or you're a pawn to be used and discarded. Honestly, he's a pretty despicable guy. And there are a few times where we see him start to realize that, but then decide that it's all worth it in order for him to achieve greatness.
If that was all there was to the character, then I think that this movie could have quickly become one note. But as the film goes on, you start to wonder about what you've seen. I mean, sure, Marty wants to be the best, but what exactly is really driving him? That's the big question at the heart of the movie, and it's one that we discover along with Marty. Either the answer changes by the end of the movie or Marty realizes that he's not the man that he thinks he is. Either way, we reach a resolution at the end, which I think is capped off by a final note of just impeccable acting from Timothy Shalomé.
And when it comes to Timothy Shalamé and his performance in the film, I mean, I I don't really know what else I can say. It seems like almost every single year for the last several years, I've been sitting right here or at some other desk at the end of the year championing one of his performances, whether it's Call Me By Your Name or Dune or A Complete Unknown or this movie. I said it last year and I'll say it again. I think that he's one of the best actors working today. I know his brashness and his perceived ego can turn some people off, but he can back it all up with talent. I mean, that's what really counts. And this is another exceptional piece of acting from him. I think it's one of the best performances of the year.
That performance is aided by what I think is a really good story structure. The first act of Marty Supreme gives us the razledazzle. We see him at his best when he's fasttalking, when he's operating smoothly, he's gliding his way through life with sheer will and audacity. And then we see the reality, the frantic and terrible actions that he has to take to keep everything going. This is where Marty Supreme feels like movies that we've seen from Josh Safy along with Benny before. And I mean that as a compliment. Good Time Uncut Gems and Marty Supreme are a great set of films about desperate guys watching their lives spiral out of control as they recklessly pursue an ill-advised goal.
They'd actually make a pretty good thematic trilogy, but a terrible marathon. I don't think my nerves could take watching all three of these movies in one sitting. Much like Uncut Gems, as Marty Supreme recklessly veered around its twists and turns while I was watching it, I didn't know if this was going to end in triumph or disaster, but I was glued to the screen to find out what was going to happen.
Shalom's performance is complimented by the rest of the cast, but most especially Odessa Aion, whose most prominent role to date, I think, was probably in 2022's Hellraiser. And I think that this is a breakout star performance. She plays Rachel, Marty's longtime friend, sometime girlfriend, and frequent accomplice. No character can really match up to Marty when he's in full scheming mode, but Rachel comes the closest, and there was actually one reveal in the movie that drew an audible gasp from the audience that I saw it with.
Many characters come and go in Marty Supreme, but Rachel is the one that keeps coming back until her critical role in the movie's ultimate conclusion. In addition to Shalamé and Asian, Marty Supreme truly has one of the nuttiest supporting casts of all time. Gwyneth Paltro plays a key role as a fading Hollywood star who catches Marty's eye. Kevin Oolirri, yeah, Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank plays her husband and shockingly, I think, actually does a pretty good job. Tyler, the Creator, in his first major film role, plays a cabbie and Marty's friend who gets pulled into the chaos. And then we have Pillette playing a Surirly farmer and other actors including French highwire artist Philippe Petite, writer director David Mamemoth and director Abel Ferrara who all have roles of varying size.
Really I should have known that this cast would be wild when one of the first voices that I heard on screen was frequent Howard Sternaller Maryanne from Brooklyn who appears in the very first scene of the movie. This is going to be bananas. I focused a lot on the drama and the tension of Marty Supreme, but I think it's worth noting that this movie is also genuinely funny, especially in the first half when Marty is at full gusto.
I mean, this is a guy who will say and do whatever he thinks he needs to do in any situation, even if it is wildly inappropriate, with no regard for the consequences of his actions. And there are just as many laughs in how others react to him as there are in what he does. This is not a character that the movie tacitly agrees with. There are plenty of characters who think that Marty is a terrible person and say that and they're not wrong.
I could see some people saying that this movie glorifies toxic ambition or winning at any cost. But I think those criticisms would be in line with the people that say that Good Fellas glorifies the mafia or The Wolf of Wall Street glorifies the excess of the 80s. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, sure they do. If you ignore the consequences that the characters suffer for their actions, Marty is an extremely flawed protagonist. And the flawed protagonist is something that Josh Safy is able to do exceptionally well.
Marty Supreme hasn't necessarily been at the forefront of awards talk so far this season, but I think that might be because not a lot of people have seen it yet. It didn't play at Can. It didn't play at Toronto. It played at the New York Film Festival, and it doesn't hit theaters until Christmas. So, there really hasn't been a whole lot of word of mouth except for some preview audiences.
Letterbox organized the screening that I attended a couple weeks ago, which I think was a really savvy move by A24 because it mobilizes an audience that I think is going to be very high on this movie. Needless to say, I think the acting and the film itself should be considered for awards, but it also has outstanding individual elements. The music is from Daniel Leatton aka OPN who also scored Good Time and Uncut Gems. I have a very short list of my favorite film scores this year so far and Marty Supreme is on it.
I also love the cinematography from Darius Kanji who just this year has also had work released in Mickey 17 and Edington and was the director of photography for movies like Uncut Gems, Oakja 7 and Panic Room among others. If you watch this channel, you know that I put a high value on lots of things. A solid story, good acting, complex characters, and I also put a high value on a movie that feels like an experience.
Now, they can be different kinds of experiences. You can have a theme park ride like Final Destination Bloodlines or an emotional journey like Hamnet, but Marty Supreme felt to me like one of those complete package experiences that I go to the movies to see. Off the top of my head, only three films have given me that this year. Centers, one battle after another. And this one, when Marty Supreme was over, I felt like Josh Safy had taken me on a journey, and I wanted to buy a ticket and go again. And as with the other two films that I mentioned, I am giving Marty Supreme a see it now rating.
Yes, you're going to have to wait until Christmas, but I think that this present is going to be worth the wait under the tree. If you liked Uncut Gems or Good Time, I think you'll especially enjoy this. I wouldn't necessarily call this one a crowd-pleaser, and I'm sure that there are going to be some people who just don't understand what the fuss is all about. But I do think that if this movie is your vibe, if it's your thing, like it was my thing, that you're going to be very pleased by the end and also kind of exhausted.
So, those are my thoughts on Marty Supreme, which is one of my favorite movies this year. What do you think? Are you excited to see it at Christmas? Were you part of that audience that was able to see it early? Let me know down in the comments below.
And stay tuned right here on the channel tomorrow on Charts with Dan. We are going to talk about a massive opening weekend for Zootopia 2, not only domestically, but especially around the world, and I'm going to have movie reviews for some of the awards movies, some of the bigger movies that still have to come out around the holiday season. I'm on the road to see a very big one today that I'll be able to review in a couple weeks.
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