Marty Supreme A24

“Marty Supreme” is One Glorious Prattle After Another

Timothy Chalamet’s titular character in Josh Safdie’s fresh, funny and mightily maximalist Marty Supreme (A) is ostensibly a champion table tennis player in 1950s America, but more than that, he’s a big talker of the first order. In successive sequences of powerful propulsion, the ambitious young man asserts one prattle after another in his pursuit of his own form of gamified survival and world domination. Call it hustle memory as the upstart fakes it or takes it ‘til he makes it. In a form of art meets reality, the celebrity on the rise behind the commanding central performance creatively markets his film product in every manner possible or practical, and Safdie and collaborators bottle this delirious derring-do in consecutive kinetic sequences of dramatic dialogue and action. Chamalet successfully carries the burden of his toxic central character on solid shoulders with rounds of vigor, charisma, gusto and bravura emitting from his agile acting pinwheel; even if you don’t like his cunning character, you can’t help giving him points for pulling out all the stops.  One moment he’s hawking women’s shoes and the next he’s selling international dignitaries on ways to change the course of human destiny. Even if it’s half true, it’s tough not to be swept up in the bombast as he ping pongs through hyperlocal and global adventuring. This talky epic may suffocate some viewers in its angst and anxiety producing power, but it proves consistently winning and watchable fun. There’s hardly breathing room for any other acting surrounding Marty’s supremacy, but Gwyneth Paltrow and Odessa A’zion contribute some graceful screen time as a luminous movie star and scrappy neighborhood gal, respectively, who both become love interests and land mines in the protagonist’s vision quest. Daniel Lopatin’s infectious music is unstoppable in its rise, interlaced with dreamy pop music from decades to come. Darius Khondii’s stunning period-era cinematography is you-are-there visceral. In addition to his assured direction, Safdie is also co-writer and co-editor with Ronald Bronstein, and together they fashion a powderkeg of distinctly American invention and resilience in the pursuit of greatness. It’s an embarrassment of riches with such a handsome production design, breakneck pace and zinger-filled dialogue and an awesome reason to support your local cineplex.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.