Marty Supreme review

 Does Timothee Chalamet’s latest movie Ping or Pong?

+The film’s remarkable promotional campaign.

 You could say that Timothee Chalamet has been preparing himself for the role of Marty Mauser for some time. I’m not talking about the seven years he’s spent during filming downtime practicing table tennis, more the sort of characters he’s been playing. Mauser, a cocky, self-confident and precocious New Yorker is not really that far removed from the actor’s previous well-known roles. He could be a grown up Elio Perlman, a more earthbound Paul Atriedes. He’s swapped Bob Dylan’s raspy voice and guitar for a paddle and busy feet but the endless self belief is there. And Willy Wonka’s chocolate flavoured obsession is a similar but more family friendly take on someone driven by his belief in his own talent. That’s not to say this role is easy, more the culmination of the actor’s ability to inhabit a character and make you impressed. Marty Supreme is a great film though like it’s protagonist easier to admire than to like.

 

I wonder whether some cinemagoers may be puzzled by the way the movie’s promotional campaign (see more below) bore no relation to the actual film. Even the orange ping pong ball is a fleeting presence in the narrative. In 1952 we find twentysomething Marty Mauser working in a shoe shop albeit just to earn enough to compete in professional ping pong events around the world. Right away we see he is super confident, a slippery, smart mouthed character who will say and do more or less anything to get where he wants to go,  a resolve that is rigorously tested as the film progresses. He’s sleeping with a married woman who becomes pregnant and still table tennis is his priority. Whilst in London for a tournament his head is also turned by enigmatic film actress Kay Stone into whose life he worms his way. Without going into the scene-by-scene synopsis – because you must see the way all this and more develops- suffice to say Marty’s route to the next championship in Japan is circuitous, perilous and stuffed with misunderstandings, accidents and close calls.

In many ways the film resembles those screwball comedies of old where characters talk and move at speed, the dialogue is sharp and clever while nobody really stops as they usually do in modern films for moments of introspection. It’s often comedic though rarely laugh out loud funny save for a couple of scenes and you can really appreciate the work that has gone into the dialogue. There is surprising amount of peril involved in Marty’s shenanigans though this sometimes feels a little out of place in this type of film like if Fred Astaire suddenly decided to settle a disagreement with a knife!

The film’s most unexpected aspect is the incidental score by Daniel Lopatin which eschews Fifties music for a harsh, electronic soundscape that also included Eighties needle drops. It actually proves to be a perfect match for the hard boiled people were’ watching. Who would have thought that the likes of Peter Gabriel or Tears for Fears would sit comfortably with an era thirty years before their heyday?

Visually director Josh Safdie and cinematographer Darius Khondji paint a grainy, washed out palette that really does put you in the era like old photographs coming to life. The hall where Marty practices and the apartments he finds himself in look exceptionally dingey. For those who know about these things they apparently used Arriflex camera and vintage Panavision C Series and B Series anamorphic lenses. The results look stunning.  While the film often has the stealth of a modern movie, it wears its vintage style well too.

It is definitely not a sports film though the table tennis sequences are shot with an urgency that recalls Chalamet’s pal Luca Guadaginino’s Challengers inventively shot lawn tennis scenes. There’s no training montage and the ultimate match he plays is not even a championship one but more of a personal undertaking. The game play sequences though only make up a relatively short portion of what does turn out to be  a slightly overlong movie that loses its way a little in the second half. A plot about a dog does go on too long and seems to stray into another type of caper altogether taking the focus away even if it does revolve around Marty finding the money to go to Japan.

This is almost certainly Timothee Chalamet’s best performance yet his least likeable character. Marty Mauser is selfish, careless and obsessed with table tennis and we see him treat friends almost as badly as enemies. Yet Chalamet’s interpretation of this is fantastic to watch, seeing an actor at the top of his game serving aces every scene with relentless energy. He displays Marty’s charisma and his persuasive charm with ease but just as interesting are the times when Marty doesn’t get his own way. You see for a moment the frustration and anger yet he’ll then turn around and be back on course. Its not just show; this is every bit as immersive a dive into a character as Chalamet did with Dylan or even in a fantastical sense Wonka or Paul Atreides. He has the depth of any decade’s acclaimed actors for sure; people are comparing him to the likes of Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman and now that’s seems altogether plausible. Next he has to show he has the range; it would be interesting to see him play against these types. For now, this is definitely a performance for the ages.

He has admirable co-stars including a fantastic performance from Odessa A'zion as Rachel, a character gifted a far more interesting arc than you may expect. She excels as Rachel is given far more as the film progresses and breaks out of the stereotypical female character you might expect in this sort of scenario. Gwyneth Paltrow as the mercurial Kay Stone and Kevin O’Leary as her hardball business husband Milton are also both terrific.

I do wonder what the intended message of the film is; the `Dream Big` mantra, so prominent in the promotion is played out in a way that suggests you should pursue your dream at any cost regardless of the negative effect it may have on others. Yet at the close does the movie suggest that Marty has been looking for the wrong thing all this time? His reaction to a development at the end is a real showstopper because it suggests he hasn’t realised till then what he really wants.

Is the film as a whole an allegory for the so called American Dream? The idea that if you strive towards goals you will achieve them? If so it paints an unflattering portrait of a nation. Imagine millions of Marty Mausers! Oscars? Well if Timmy doesn’t get nominated it will be ridiculous but I also feel Odess A’zion deserves a nom as well as does Josh Safdie for direction and Darius Khondji for cinematography.

Marty Supreme is another addition to this year’s list of interesting individual films that are not part of any franchise and offer an alternative; the likes of Sinners, Weapons and One Battle After Another. Films that are definitely not comfortable watches at times but which show there is still plenty of invention in modern cinema.

Promo Supreme!

When it came to promotion this movie producers A24 and Timothee Chalamet opted for a unique campaign, the likes of which has rarely been seen before for a film. It started with a chaotic staged Zoom call in which an excitable Timmy, head shorn from the recently completed filming of Dune 3, proposed all manner of crazy ideas which could be used in the marketing campaign. In the amusing skit, he talks about “fruitionising” the film, talks about Josh Safdie’s great movies and declares  “We are Marty Supreme”. Some of the ideas actually happened - the Wheaties box, the prominence of the colour orange (“hardcore orange”), the blimp (though not “raining ping pong balls” on everyone). Though some did not like the idea of major public buildings being painted orange!

Next came a bizarre short film which saw the actor initially encased inside a glass box wearing a giant orange ping pong ball head and being bombarded by regular sized table tennis balls. Outside several other games were going on, all played by people also wearing the giant orange heads.

This was just the start. Next came a sequence of the actor standing in front of the Hollywood sign above which a giant blimp resplendent with the Marty Supreme logo was hovering. “I told you the blimp was a good idea” he shouted. There was a special Wheaties packet produced, something referenced but never realised in the film. Talk show and radio appearances were full of his energy and he also started turning up at screenings, sometimes accompanied by those giant ping pong ball wearing minders. The signature Marty Supreme jacket he wore became a much sought after piece of merchandise with pop up shops – at which the actor also appeared- selling them while celebrities who had been deemed to have `dreamed big` were gifted them including Susan Boyle.

Chalamet also sought to capitalise on social media rumours that the Liverpool rapper EsDeeKid was in fact the actor. The rapper never shows his face and his eyes do bear a strong resemblance to the actor’s. In interviews, Chalamet would respond to the question mysteriously by saying “All will be revealed in time.” The reveal was not what we expected though. The two teamed u for a remixed version of EsDeeKid’s `4 Raws` with a video that looked like it was shot in an off licence in North London. A few days later a video was released of Timmy standing atop the massive Sphere venue in Las Vegas. The venue’s globe shaped exterior is of course the perfect shape to be turned orange like a massive ping ping ball!

All this and more made Chalamet and by default the movie the most talked about cultural event of November / December despite the presence of Christmas. The most interesting factor in it all though is that the movie manly features only regular sized white ping pong balls and no rapping or blimps. Whatever you think of it, the campaign definitely caught people’s attention and was the personification of the film’s mantra `Dream Big`.