RIOTUS

I’m not a Safdie guy. I haven’t seen all their films, but I detested Good Time. Uncut Gems, I don’t see what others see in it. While it looks like the two brothers split up and are going their own paths now, I did like The Smashing Machine, but that might be because I have a bias for The Rock. That led me to think that maybe there is a change this year in how I see both of their work, so maybe, just maybe, I might like Marty Supreme. Of late, before I saw this film, the campaign was in full effect. With the film coming out on Christmas, they need to get people to care, and since we are at the beginning of what I call Movie Playoffs, they have to get on this campaign trail.

Timothée Chalamet has been everywhere, with a shaved head and casting his aura all over the place. One of the few bona fide new stars we have in the movie business these days, we’re going to see just how much if he can open a two-and-a-half-hour period piece movie about ping pong. This whole film is centered around Chalamet; he is this film and is in just about every frame you see. I think this is the first time it feels like Chalamet’s natural charisma, charm, and public personality on screen in a character. Chalamet’s Marty Mauser is just as much the character as he is what we “know” of the actor himself.

This is A24‘s synopsis – “Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.” Set in 1952, Marty lives in New York City and works in his uncle’s women’s shoe store in the Lower East Side. He hates it since he has great dreams as a star Table Tennis player and to become the world champion and put the sport on the map in the United States. Table Tennis is his way out – his way out of life he hates and a place in society he hates and wants more. It’s a classic American tale.

The energy of the film and the drive of the character feel like ’90s NYC rap music or Basketball. Everything is so tense all the time, while you can feel Marty’s drive and hustle all the time. His hustle is contagious because this young man is an ASS. HOLE. There’s something about him, though, that you want to see him overcome and get to where he wants to get to. Like all great sports films, he wants to be the guy, the top, and to see him navigate around everything he feels is standing in his way is hilarious at times, and like watching a car wreck, you know it’s about to happen.

Odessa A’zion plays Rachel Mizler, Marty’s married childhood friend who’s having an affair behind her husband’s back. A’zion is having a great season, also being HBO’s I Love LA. Here she plays a perfect foil and love interest for Marty, someone who, in the film, completely loves and believes in him, no matter how much he mistreats her in the quest for his dream. She plays at times such a pitiful young woman perfectly that then shifts into such a perfect companion for him. She ends up doing such good acting with her eyes and face.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kay Stone, a former Hollywood starlet now in an unhappy marriage with a wealthy businessman who owns a pen company. Paltrow, who’s been in basic semi-retirement from acting, is pretty good here. Kay is another love interest for Marty, someone who is aspirational for him and helps him confirm his ego on how great he is. From her character, going by the performance, it’s his confidence in himself and his dream that is attractive to her. It’s subtle in how she likes this young man and how he inspires her in what she wants to do versus the suffocating marriage she’s in with Milton Rockwell.

Good old Milton Rockwell is played by Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, on Shark Tank. I can’t fake here having this unlikable (to me) real-life businessman play the businessman/devil of this film is genius. I instantly hated him and wanted everything bad to happen to him. While his face is familiar, he does disappear in the role and does a good job. Tyler Okonma, better known as Tyler, the Creator, plays Wally, Marty’s friend and hustle buddy. Think White Men Can’t Jump, but with table tennis. Timothée and Tyler work well together on screen and were very believable as friends. So much so that at times the dialogue in the film felt a bit too current and those two here just ablibing the scene. While good, it did take me out a bit.

Fran Drescher plays Rebecca, Marty’s mother, whom we really don’t get enough of, and is a primarily flat character that I think we’re supposed to feel sorry for as Marty treats her poorly. Sandra Bernhard is also in this as Rebecca’s friend and neighbor, Judy. It was good to see her in something I can’t lie. Abel Ferrara plays Ezra Mishkin, a character who is instantly scary and is that car wreck I mentioned earlier. He’s like If you see a gun in a show or movie, you have to see it fired. Yeah, he’s the gun; you know something bad is going to happen before the film is over, just how menacing he is as soon as you see him.

Josh Safdie and the cinematographer Darius Khondji made a very good-looking film. There’s a warmth to the color on the screen that adds to the tension and pacing of the film. It makes you feel hot and bothered. The angles and shot compositions pull and push you through the story. The use of close-ups on characters like Marty definitely puts you in the mindset of the characters in their situations. The editing by Ronald Bronstein and Safdie is very good, as the film never slows or lingers too long on anything. The film moves from the first shot to the end. The music by Daniel Lopatin, with the score and the use of eighties music at times, makes you feel this is a timeless New York story. Each song is used at the right time.

There’s so much more I could go into, but this is a film that’s worth going to see and experiencing the story of Marty Supreme yourself. It is one of the best films of the year, even if I don’t care for the Safdie films, mostly. As I stated earlier, this is Timothée Chalamet living out his SAG Awards speech for real. Was his making this film influencing him earlier in the year when he was accepting that SAG award – probably, and you can see it in this film and in his promotion. He’s dreaming big and trying to make it by any means necessary to be one of the greats, and that’s something worth seeing.