Marty Supreme

The best movies are the ones where you struggle to sum a quick answer when asked, “What was that about?” In this case you answer, “Uhh, ping pong”. And yet it's so, so much more. It's about the fine line between confidence and hubris, about moral sacrifice and humility, about betting on yourself and not settling for anything less than greatness. It’s about seducing fallen Hollywood starlets, hustling in bowling alleys, and retrieving a mysterious gangster’s lost dog.

Just like Odysseus was sent on his Odyssey as punishment from the gods for angering them with his hubris, Marty Mauser’s infallible arrogance thrusts him into a comedy of errors. He’s a social engineer, a master manipulator, a shrewd salesman, a literal con man. (con is short for confidence, don’t forget) “I could sell shoes to an amputee.” It's just that what he is selling is himself, the brand of “Marty Supreme.”

Through pure moxie, he wins the affection of a past her prime Hollywood starlet in the midst of her comeback. 40 minutes in and I’m rolling my eyes at Timothèe Chalamet getting laid yet again in the movie, but through this affair do some of the film’s strongest themes come to light. Gwyneth Paltrow, who did in fact make movies before  Timothèe Chalamet was born just like her character boasts to him about, plays a woman who sacrificed her career for her husband’s success. She settled and forewent a life of happiness for security and misery. This angers Marty, a person who hungers to ascend social ladders and maximize his potential by any means necessary—even if it's to his own dismay. She doesn’t just roll over for him, instead she actually checks his ego and sees through the charades that hides his vulnerability.

Josh Safdie, one half of the brotherly duo behind the anxiety-inducing Uncut Gems and Good Time, brings that similar frenetic energy that makes 2 and a half hours of film melt away. There’s Scorsese influence written all over the pacing, reminiscent of that frantic rise and fall journey. Music plays such a vital role in driving the momentum of the film. Whether it be "Forever Young" playing behind the opening credits or "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" during the film’s close, the mix of 80s pop hits and original scoring carries so much inertia throughout the 1950s period piece. And what a beautifully wild contrast it is too.

It warms my soul to see huge rollouts for… well let's not be pretentious and use the word “true film”, but you know what we’re talking about here. Original ideas with a touch of auteurship, breaths of fresh air in the yearly lineup of franchise sequels and cash ins on nostalgia. John Safdie looked at that and said, "I’m gonna make a fictional biopic about table tennis (lets call it a biofic) shoot it on beautiful Kodak 35mm film stock in Panavision to give a rich, analog feel that evokes its decade, set it to Tears for Fears, and it's going to be brilliant."

I'm sure he said that.