The acclaimed sports drama Marty Supreme was released on Christmas Day of 2025 following a historic press run by Timothee Chalamet. Directed by Josh Safdie, the film loosely follows the life story of Marty Mauser, played by Chalamet, a professional table tennis player during the 1950s trying to find money in order to get to the international table tennis tournament in Japan. As Marty strives for stardom, he sacrifices his job, his closest relationships, and even seeing the birth of his own child in order to achieve the greatness he feels that he was destined to come into.
The film was a massive box office success, earning 155 million dollars off of a reported 60-70 million dollar budget. As well as being A24’s highest grossing movie ever, Marty Supreme was extremely well received critically, holding a 93% fresh rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website.
The highlight of Marty Supreme is easily the fast paced plot. Comparing Marty Supreme to a bullet train in terms of constant movement would be no understatement. While the film moves fast, it is not at the cost of plot or character development, with no scenes ever truly being rushed despite Marty’s constant rush. Marty constantly jumps from person to person throughout his life when they offer convenience to him, highlighting his carelessness for his personal relationships.
HHS sophomore Walter Drews said that this idea, “makes me want to see it even more now.” Even dialogue driven scenes with no physical action feel exhilarating thanks to strong performances and intense camera angles.
Another technical element that adds to the exhilarating nature of Marty Supreme are the ping pong matches. Timothee Chalamet trained for seven years with Olympian table tennis player Wei Wang in order to portray Marty Mauser, ensuring that a stunt double wouldn’t be needed for his ping pong scenes. Instead of using traditional wide-shot table tennis camera coverage, Safdie utilized close ups on the players sweaty heads and hands to emphasize the pressure that they are under during the matches.
While the movie is filled with major actors like Timothee Chalamet, Gwenyth Paltrow, and Fran Drescher, much of the cast is filled with non-actors. Josh Safdie uses this unorthodox casting method to create authentic characters, saying, “They’re not going to say, ‘That’s an actor, and that’s not an actor,’ and ‘This is real and that’s not real.’ They’re just going to watch it, and treat it with the value it has.” Some of the non-actors that Safdie utilized include Shark Tank judge Kevin O’Leary (Mr. Wonderful), former NBA player George Gervin, rapper Tyler the Creator, table tennis player Koto Kawaguchi, and Luke Manley, a Knicks fan from a viral Barstool Sports video.
Sophomore Rex Chen said, “These castings helped the characters feel more realistic and added to my enjoyment of the movie.”
Overall, Marty Supreme deserves to be seen because of its fast paced plot, well developed characters, amazing ping pong matches, and great performances. The movie has been nominated for nine Oscars, including the coveted Best Picture award. Timothee Chalamet is the favorite to win best actor after being nominated twice before and losing. Chalamet has already won a Golden Globe and a Critic’s Choice Award for his performance, so he is clearly a frontrunner for the Oscar. Due to these reasons, Marty Supreme is clearly worth a watch.
