Marty Supreme

AroView: Timothée Chalamet and director Josh Safdie bring their A-game to this adrenalized tale of ruthless ambition that was nominated for nine Academy Awards and scored the biggest box-office success to date for its production studio, A24.

Chalamet plays a young hustler who determines to reign supreme at the table tennis world champs in 1952. He’s obsessed, selfish and narcissistic but possessed of a roguish charm that gets him what he wants, though not without endless Trouble. The director does tension with a capital T, here fleshing out the bones of a true story with two-bit criminal tropes and a complicated romance the way he did with ‘Good Time’ and ‘Uncut Gems’ (then with his co-directing brother, Benny). The sporting scenes especially give this a distinctive edge, matched by another cutting-edge soundtrack by Daniel Lopatin.

“A breakneck rollercoaster—about ping pong!—infused with a manic desperation that’s almost as electric as its athletic centerpieces are taut.” ~Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“This is unquestionably the best performance of Timothée Chalamet’s career, and Marty Supreme is one of the best movies of the year.” ~Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

“A roman candle of a movie that feels like it was shot out of a cannon, despite being burdened with the gravity of an implausible dream; a totemic Jewish-American odyssey about where such dreams come from, where they might lead to, and where they’re liable to come apart at the seams along the way.” ~David Ehrlich, IndieWire