Marty Supreme

Marty Supreme establishes itself from the very first minutes as an electric film that doesn't just move forward, but bounces back and forth, oscillating between bravado, panic, and illusion, with the frenetic pace of a ball bouncing on a ping-pong table. Directed with confident audacity by Josh Safdie, this solo project is both a natural continuation of the feverish chaos he cultivated with his brother and something more personal, more mischievous, and character-driven. Set against a rich reconstruction of 1950s New York and beyond, the film traces the rise, or rather the frantic and self-destructive race, of Marty Mauser, played by Timothée Chalamet in what may be his most complete, daring, and abrasive performance to date. Timothée Chalamet doesn't ask for affection; he uses his charm, ego, and nervous energy as weapons until Marty becomes hypnotic, exasperating, and impossible to ignore, a compulsive con artist convinced that fate owes him respect, applause, and the world.

What makes Marty Supreme captivating is not only the narrative progression, but also the way Josh Safdie deliberately blurs admiration and revulsion, creating a protagonist who seduces everyone around him before ruthlessly destroying them. Marty's determined quest for table tennis glory takes him from a cramped shoe store warehouse to international arenas, dragging with him the emotional wreckage of those who still believe in him. Odessa A'zion is phenomenal as Rachel, the unstable gravitational force in his personal life, a person whose manipulative instincts mirror his own, but whose emotional vulnerability makes her much more human. As for Gwyneth Paltrow, in the role of Kay Stone, a movie star in decline but still captivating, she delivers a performance of fragile elegance, transforming every scene with Marty into a potent mix of seduction, manipulation, and melancholy. And always lurking in the shadows of Marty's ambition is Kevin O'Leary, whose effortless presence as a predatory industrialist transforms every interaction into a reminder that, even if Marty believes he is in control of the game, he is just a flashy pawn dancing for men who truly understand power.

Josh Safdie surrounds this unstable core with an ecosystem of unforgettable faces and energies, and here, Tyler Okonma proves he has a naturally magnetic screen presence, anchoring moments of chaos with humor and quiet despair. Behind the frenzy lies impeccable craftsmanship: Darius Khondji films New York like a living organism drenched in sweat, cigarette smoke, and despair, each close-up pulsing with life, while Daniel Lopatin's synthetic musical assault, brazenly anachronistic and gloriously determined, plunges the viewer into Marty's fractured psyche. There is a perverse joy in seeing Josh Safdie reject nostalgia, instead merging eras, tones, and aesthetics into something that feels both rooted in history and culturally explosive, like an American fable rewritten with punk audacity and Jewish black humor.

What elevates the film beyond spectacle is its understanding of ego as both fuel and disease. Marty believes in the American myth with religious fervor: individuality as destiny, arrogance as necessity, chaos as proof of greatness. The screenplay by Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein never judges him, but rather exposes the workings of this illusion: how charisma blinds, how ambition corrupts, how spectators love to watch a man run toward greatness even when it's obvious he's running toward his own humiliation. Several sequences illustrate this beautifully, from the disastrous and hilarious encounter with a gangster's dog to the ensuing spiral of scams, betrayals, and quasi-tragic absurdities, each moment both exhilarating and deeply sad, as each senseless project distances Marty from the possibility of becoming someone respectable.

And yet, amid the noise, moral chaos, and sweat-soaked madness, Marty Supreme achieves something akin to emotional truth. Josh Safdie's film understands the seductive intoxication of self-confidence, but also the emptiness that awaits when the show ends, when the applause fades and the illusion of being chosen collapses. In its final act, the film finds a surprisingly tender flaw in Marty's armor, not absolving him, but allowing us to glimpse the terrified, lonely young man hiding behind the swaggering myth he has built around himself. Marty Supreme is a wild, relentless, harrowing film that manages to be hilarious, exasperating, poetic, and deeply alive. For its superb craftsmanship, fearless performances, and burning theme, this film stands out as one of our big favorites at the end of the year.

Marty Supreme
Directed by Josh Safdie
Written by Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie
Produced by Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush, Anthony Katagas, Timothée Chalamet
Starring Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher
Cinematography: Darius Khondji
Edited by Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie
Music by Daniel Lopatin
Production company: Central Pictures
Distributed by A24 (United States), Metropolitan FilmExport (France)
Release dates: October 6, 2025 (NYFF), December 25, 2025 (United States), February 18, 2026 (France)
Running time: 150 minutes

Seen on December 19, 2025 at the Metropolitan Theater

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