The Safdie Brothers came on the scene of filmmaking with a storm. The Pleasure of Being Robbed, a short film, and Daddy Longlegs, a full-length feature, were their first two films, but it was their breakout hit “Good Time,” starring Robert Pattinson that garnered them the real acclaim they deserved. They exceeded that acclaim with their third feature film, “Uncut Gems”, starring Adam Sandler. Since then, they’ve decided to go their separate ways, and both have a film coming out this year. The first being “The Smashing Machine,” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and directed by Benny Safdie and “Marty Supreme” starring Timothee Chalamet and directed, respectively by his brother, Josh Safdie. The latter is an absolute gem of a movie. No pun intended. Like his brother’s picture is a sports biopic about a little known athlete. 

Marty Mauser (Timothy’s Chalamet) is the name of the character in the film, but it’s based on the real Marty Reissman. By day, he is a shoe salesman, but he’s not happy with that job. He’d rather be playing competitive ping pong because he is the best player in the United States. He has a girlfriend, Rachel (Odessa A’zion) that he loves but doesn’t want to settle down. He wants to live a life of galavanting around the world, playing in table tennis tournaments in various countries around the world. The problem is he doesn’t have a lot of money to do this. He and his friend Wally (Tyler, the Creator) have to hustle to make money for his trip abroad to enter a tournament. Things don’t go as planned, though, as other variables get in the way of his success. That’s usually what happens to dreams they tend to get interrupted by life decisions and results.

Josh Safdie used a lot of the things that made a couple of his past movies so good in this one. The fast-paced, high tension scenes and sequences were very evident to me while watching this film.This movie never slows down. It’s always moving forward, and it’s fast-paced from the very beginning.The main character is constantly on the run, whether it be because of his own mistakes or because of the life he wants to lead. Chalamet’s character is constantly getting into situations he can;t get himself out of which leads to these crazy scenarios where he’s always trying to run or escape from somebody or other.This quick paced storytelling and execution by Safdie and company is what viewers are looking for. Especially those who have seen his past movies. I literally couldn’t take a break in my seat because of all the craziness that was going on in the context of the film.

Chalamet gives the performance of his career as Marty Mauser. If he doesn’t win an Oscar for this performance, then I don’t know what he has to do to win one. He has played some fantastic characters in his career. Namely Paul Atredis in the Dune franchise, Willy Wonka in Wonka, and last year, he played music legend Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown”. He has proven that he’s a versatile actor who can play any role that is put in front of him. When I was watching this movie, I saw his character, not him. I believed he was this character, and I was watching this character go through all of the wild things in this film. That’s the mark of a great actor. He’s on pace to be the best actor of his generation. I don’t see anyone who could possibly compete with him at this point in his career.This is by far the best performance of the year. Nobody is even close to me. He is the main reason to see this picture. He is absolutely phenomenal as this character. Safdie gets exactly what he’s trying to get out of Chalamet, similar in tone to Pattinson in ‘Good Time’ and Sandler in ‘Uncut Gems’. He’s even better than them, though.

Besides Chalamet, there is a fantastic supporting cast that rounds out this movie. A few I want to bring up are Gwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone, an aging actress who is married to a man who owns a company that makes pens. She and the Chalamet character get romantically linked even though they shouldn’t be. Because her husband Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary, Mr. Wonderful, Shark Tank ) is not a nice man. He ends up having a connection to the Chalamet character from a business perspective. O’Leary’s character isn’t a nice man, and he plays him that way from the very beginning of the movie. His behind the camera persona isn’t that much different from his character on screen. He tends to be a very divisive man in Canada, where he’s from and lets people, including the American President Donald Trump, have a piece of his mind. That’s a lot to go up against as far as the Chalamet character is concerned. “The Nanny” herself, Fran Drescer, has a role in this film. She plays the mother of the Chalamet character. She must have taken some time off from being the head of SAG. She’s a little bit more subdued than what fans of hers are used to, though. The cast as a whole is pretty good, and there are also cameos of some familiar faces I won’t spoil here. 

I love all the technical things from the score to the cinematography and everything in between. Safdie is able to capture the look and feel of the 1950s.There has to be a lot of greenscreen which makes the CGI and visual effects that are used very effective in hiding the newer look of New York City. The streets looked pretty old-fashioned to me.Throw in the classic cars, clothes, and hairstyles as well, and you have a very good-looking period piece that never looked anything but what it was supposed to be like. The production design was also very good-looking. Getting all the right interior and various props that they need couldn’t have been easy. Making a period piece film look like it’s supposed to goes a long way to making the viewers not care about anything but the story and characters.Thats the case here. Everybody involved in making this picture from a technical aspect did a great job.

“Marty Supreme” was a true period piece biopic. Real or fictional, that’s for another argument. Or as close to one as I’ve seen in a long time. I was completely transfixed by this film. Maybe separating to make their own films wasn’t such a bad idea for these two brothers. I, for one, sure want to see another film from Josh Safdie, that’s for sure. He was able to capture the same things he and his brother, Benny Safdie, did together with “Good Time’ and “Uncut Gems”. Before watching this movie, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. I saw the trailer and thought that it looked interesting to me. When I actually watched the film, I was completely blown away. I was more than I ever could have expected in so many different ways. From top to bottom, this is an amazing movie. It’s definitely one of the best of the year. Chalamet gives the performance of his career and is definitely worthy of a lot of awards consideration. All the technical aspects are very well done top to bottom. A24 as a studio knows how to produce great films year after year now. Its a given they are going to get great filmmakers to make great films. This is just another one in a long line of them for me. I know people will love this film as much as I do when they have a chance to see it.

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen