Bracingly intense, immensely stressful and relentlessly propulsive – ping-pong drama Marty Supreme is less of a traditional sports movie than a captivating character study wrapped up in a chaotic caper.
Filmmaker Josh Safdie, known for the nerve-shredding crime thrillers Good Time and Uncut Gems which he directed with his brother Benny, directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with his longtime collaborator Ronald Bronstein.
Marty Supreme has a similarly back-to-the-wall, pedal-to-the-floor pace as his previous works, complete with the trademark Safdie brand of verisimilitude – achieved with a combination of cinematographer Darius Khondji's stunning 35mm film work, production designer Jack Fisk’s gorgeously recreated 1950s sets and the ingeniously cast ensemble of actors.
Timothée Chalamet is Marty Mauser – a born hustler and preternaturally gifted ping pong player, loosely based on real-life American table tennis champion Marty Reisman.
Set in 1952, Marty works at his uncle's shoe shop on New York’s Lower East Side but has his sights set on international table tennis glory – then a nascent and little recognised sport in the US.
He is single-mindedly ambitious, impulsive, and deeply selfish. Marty is having an affair with his childhood friend and neighbour Rachel Mizler, played by a hugely charismatic Odessa A'zion, who works in the local pet store and has an oafish husband (Emory Cohen).
We get an early indicator of just how far Marty will go to achieve his goals when he holds his scrupulous colleague Lloyd (Ralph Colucci) at gunpoint to extract money he is owed to travel to England for a table tennis championship.
He makes it to London and squeaky wheels his way into a free room at The Ritz, where he becomes illicitly entangled with fellow guest Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), a former movie star attempting a career comeback in a Broadway production entirely financed by her pen-magnate husband Milton (Kevin O’Leary).
Marty faces off against Japanese ping-pong superstar Koto Endo (portrayed by real-life player Koto Kawaguchi), who is as calm and collected as he is hot-headed and showy. It doesn’t end well for Marty, and, back in the US, the perennially sore loser frantically tries to claw together cash for a rematch.
The stakes continue to rise for Marty in jaw-dropping ways and the ever-ratcheting tension is heightened by a helter-skelter score composed by electronic artist Daniel Lopatin.
Chalamet, famously "in pursuit of greatness", is in full swing here. He spent years perfecting his table tennis skills for this role, and he puts in a relentlessly focused, impressively indefatigable performance.
Perhaps most laudably, he manages to extract deep poignancy from an inherently unlikeable character. The Hollywood star has already picked up Best Actor nominations at both the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards, with an Oscar nod surely following in January.
Coming out of a five-year acting hiatus, Paltrow is also deeply affecting as Kay. It's a sensitively drawn portrait of a resigned woman who has an intuitive read on the situation. They are ably supported by the ragtag supporting cast who add layers of credibility to an unbelievable story.
Marty Supreme lands its shots with precision, and in the end is a nerve-jangling triumph.
