In 2014, I was at a wedding in Provence in the south of France when a movie-crazy fine arts photographer I know, a Frenchman named Nicholas, wanted to talk to me about the American film “The Wolf Of Wall Street,” which is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a fast-talking stockbroker with an innate ability to turn penny stocks into profits.
Nicholas was irritated that so many of his Parisian friends disliked the movie intensely. He loved it. He wanted to know what I thought of the picture. I said that I liked it very much. He then told me that his friends and colleagues hated “The Wolf Of Wall Street” because they claimed there were no likable characters. I replied, “Oh, you mean that tiresome I didn’t have anyone with whom I could identify baloney.” There is nothing wrong with a film in which many of the major characters are scoundrels. This is because scoundrels create conflict and conflict creates drama.
I said to Nicholas that one good response was to tell people that they needed to experience an uncomfortable movie just as the director and screenwriter intended. That there is nothing wrong with good films that vibrate with bleakness; nothing wrong with challenging an audience. I heard similar complaints about director Woody Allen’s masterful romantic thriller, “Match Point.” Folks would say to me that, for a variety of reasons, “everyone was so unlikable.” To which I always replied that it’s a drama about murder and duplicity. Does everything have to have some lukewarm laughter bubbling in the background?
Enter “Marty Supreme.” At the center of this 2 and 1/2 hour adventure in the world of ping pong in 1950s America is a thoroughly unlikable character named Marty Mauser. As played brilliantly by Timothee Chalamet, with a manic energy that rivets your attention throughout the movie, Marty is a young man desperate to alter the boring path of his ordinary life. He has screwed up repeatedly because of a natural in-your-face antagonism and his relentless aggressive behavior. Marty does have one exceptional asset: he is very good at playing ping pong.
To him, the dull, day-to-day grind makes sense only when he insists that he’s working as a shoe salesman in order to earn enough money to get to Japan and enter a major ping pong tournament that promises fame and a large monetary prize. Marty is challenged at every turn by his inappropriate reactions to almost everything that happens to him. He willingly abandons a “sort of” girlfriend who he gets pregnant. When he loses a match, he roars swiftly into wild conniptions. He’s a slick talker, and in his heart, he believes that most difficulties can be smoothed over verbally. Most, not all. There are some shady characters in Marty’s sphere of influence.
One remarkable section in the middle of the movie delivers a true-life shaggy dog story you’ll find either unintentionally hilarious or utterly appalling. Although, perhaps some might find it intentionally funny and filled with comic hijinks of the highest order. To each their own. There is some humor in the film, and it is wickedly acerbic. The message that is signed, sealed and delivered is that Marty can usually talk his way out of any type of difficulty. How does he do it? Charisma, fierce energy, and an attitude that screams invincibility.
“Marty Supreme” is a character drama of deep-rooted richness. Director Josh Safdie and his co-screenwriter Ronald Bronstein mine Marty’s restlessness and dreams of glory for all they’re worth. The seeds for the story being told were planted in popular American fiction of the 1940s and 1950s about aggressive males in such books as “Goodbye, Columbus” by Philip Roth, “The Adventures of Augie March” by Saul Bellow, and “What Makes Sammy Run?” by Budd Schulberg. The screenplay also seems to have been influenced by the real-life ping pong champion Marty “the Needle” Reisman, an American. He was a reed-thin, late-1940s table tennis champion famous for his quick wit and fiercely energetic way of playing. Regarding the movie, the phrase “Marty supreme” actually refers to orange-colored ping pong balls that the character of Mauser develops with his cousin, balls they believe will be more visible to players and make them rich.
The thrust of the director Safdie’s movie is whether or not Marty will become a titleholder. As noted, Chalamet is mesmerizing, whether he’s running from destination to destination, always willing to make a deal in order to achieve his goal, or, with his ever-present glasses, delivering a character begging for attention, assistance, or a unique form of salvation. The fact that almost everything revolves around Marty needing money generates moments in the movie that never stop holding your attention. He’s comfortable hanging out with wealthy people, embarrassed about having to be half-time entertainment at basketball contests involving the Harlem Globetrotters, and heroic in a crazily inappropriate way during the visceral and violent episode involving a mobster and the aforementioned dog.
Chalamet will assuredly receive a Best Actor Academy Award nomination, as will the original screenplay. Other Oscar nods are possible. The gifted cast includes a superb Gwyneth Paltrow as a famous, albeit fading, actress who is trying for a comeback and succumbs to Marty’s persona. Also in the movie are cult filmmaker Abel Ferrara as criminal Ezra Mishkin, Fran Drescher as Marty’s mother Rebecca, Sandra Bernhard as his aunt Judy, Tyler Okonma as his cab-driving best friend Waly, Isaac Mizrahi as the publicist Merle, and Odessa A’Zion as Rachel, a young woman with whom Marty is having an affair. Stunt casting involving amateur actors rarely succeeds, which is why using businessman Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” as a scurrilous entrepreneur was a mistake. Surprisingly, O’Leary just isn’t believable and plays his part too low-key.
The exhilarating “Marty Supreme” races through its phases of determination, disappointment, hope, redemption, and retribution with ceaseless energy. I’ve seen hundreds of movies this year, and the film, which opens in theaters next Wednesday, is my choice for the best of a wonderfully eclectic group. What is especially terrific about the picture is that it maintains its surprises and keeps an always alert audience interested in its twists and turns. Seeing how it plays out is similar to watching a mystery. Safdie assures that we are always fascinated by Marty’s gall, brio, and passion. Chalamet is perfect as the pied piper of ping pong, and he pours his heart and soul into his performance. “Marty Supreme” has boundless creative riches. Cheering for a character who is hustling the world is an invigorating way of exalting a motion picture that has earned the right to be celebrated.