Marty Supreme

I finally got around to seeing Marty Supreme last night and… hoo boy, who would’ve thought a film about a guy with aspirations of playing table tennis would be so intense. Well, it’s made by a Safdie brother so that should come as no surprise if you’re familiar with their body of work. OK, this one only has Josh directing — Benny also directed The Smashing Machine with The Rock, which I regrettably never got around to seeing — but it’s every bit as unrelenting and chaotic as the brothers’ collaborative efforts and Timothée Chalamet’s main protagonist is another prime Safdie Brothers protagonist… scummy, selfish, desperate and self-destructive, but also strangely compelling in a way. I’ve always liked Chalamet as an actor, but his performance in this is one of his finest. Marty is not an especially likeable character. He’s entitled, overconfident, arrogant, manipulative and generally treats most of the people in his life like shit, but Chalamet is magnetic on-screen even when he’s trying frantically to weasel his way out of increasingly dangerous and degrading scenarios. It’s almost like an absurdist screwball comedy at times — albeit an extremely stressful one — playing out like Martin Scorsese’s After Hours on steroids, and it’s a testament to Josh Safide’s filmmaking prowess that the movie never feels messy or overly numbing despite its frenetic style.

Its frenetic nature might be a bit much for some audiences, but I really loved this film and I’d recommend seeing it if you get the chance. It might seem strange that a movie involving table tennis can be so enthralling, but it genuinely is. Looking forward to seeing whatever Josh Safdie does next as he is officially one of my favourite filmmakers.

So… that’s my first trip to the cinema and hopefully it won’t be my last… I’m looking forward to seeing The Bone Temple this evening.