I promised you months ago a matchup between two - two! - sports films by the individual Safdie Brothers. We’ve already seen Benny’s The Smashing Machine, so let’s give a hand to Josh’s Marty Supreme! Let’s get ready to review!
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Seriously, who is that?
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Anyway, we’re introduced to Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet), an underground ping-pong champion in 1952 New York. He works at his uncle Murray’s (Larry “Ratso” Sloman) to help fund a trip to London for his first championship. When Murray refuses to give him an extra $700, Marty steals it himself and flies on over to his first humiliation. That comes when he loses to Koto Endo (actual Japanese ping-pong player Koto Kawaguchi) and promptly loses his cool.
At home, Marty is confronted with an escalating series of problems. Murray wants to press charges; Marty accidentally crushes one Ezra Mishkin’s (Abel Ferrera) arm with a hotel bathtub (don’t ask); he and his best friend Wally (Tyler the Creator) lose Ezra’s dog, Moses; his childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A’zion) is pregnant with his child; and he’s been banned from professional ping-pong. Fortunately, he met aging starlet Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) in London. Her husband, Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary), is a powerful pen magnate, so he might help get him out of trouble. But that will cost him.
Jennifer Venditti, the Safdies’ mutual casting director, is among those shortlisted for the first ever Casting Oscar. It’s easy to see why once you see this film’s surprising choices. There’s O’Reily, whom you might recognize from Shark Tank, who’s really menacing as the unforgiving Rockwell. You might also recognize Fran Drescher as Marty’s mom Rebecca, a woman of little nonsense. But you might not recognize Penn Jillette - that’s right, Penn of Penn & Teller - as the trigger-happy farmer Hoff, until you see the credits. You won’t be laughing at any of his screen time, that’s for sure.
Let’s see who we have further up the cast list. We’ve got Paltrow, whose world-weary Kay still craves affection. When she stages her comeback play, whose director is none other than David Mamet, it proves to be a catastrophe. Her gutted reaction is all we need to understand the reception. Meanwhile, A’zion’s Rachel is married to the brutish Ira Mizler (Emory Cohen), but she’s a good match for Marty. She’s just as impulsive as him, to the point of manipulative, but she’s still pretty sympathetic. And then there’s Ferrera, whose Mishkin gradually goes from nice to frighteningly violent.
And finally, let’s dedicate a paragraph to Marty. For much of the movie, I was honestly annoyed by Marty’s towering ego and immense stupidity. He’ll make anything worse for himself, even if it’s not exactly his fault - see the bathtub incident. But he’s not irredeemable. In fact, he proves himself capable of goodness when he agrees to drive Moses to the Vet. He tries his best to find the dog, even if it’s just for the reward, which is where he meets Hoff (and wishes he hadn’t). A catastrophic incident helps him realize the error of his ways; he still puts his ego to good use in the climax. Everything makes sense once you realize it’s about him learning humility through humiliation.
Let’s talk about its technicians, some of whom have been also shortlisted for Oscars. There’s cinematographer Darius Khondji, who, with production designer Jack Fisk, renders the 1950s with alluring grittiness. It’s not a rose-tinted world, but it still looks nice to live in. Daniel Lopatin energetic score is sometimes complimented, not supplanted, by some purposefully anachronistic needle drops. Safdie, and his writing/editing collaborator Ronald Bronstein, make the ping-pong matches as compelling as the violence. Finally, an excellent makeup team sketches Marty’s unglamorous, yet dashing, looks, as well as bruises both “real” and “fake.”
Yes, Marty Supreme requires a lot of patience, both for its protagonist and its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. Give them time, and you might find yourself impressed with its unusual story. I admit that I was rather impatient, but I came away appreciative that it didn't turn out to be hopelessly bleak. It got me interested in reading up on Marty's real-life inspiration, Marty Reisman, and it was surprising to see the overlaps. It's not my favorite film of the year, but I still respect it a lot; I'm willing to give it another shot once it premieres on HBOMax.
I think I said enough for this year.
Now, who was that announcer?
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