Not your run of the mill sports film.
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Marty Supreme, the latest film headlined by Timothée Chalame, took some patience on our part before Shaw Theatres finally and successfully brought it to Singapore!
Named Marty Mauser, Chalamet plays a fiercely determined young man who aims for nothing else but making a mark as an indisputable table tennis legend in 1952 New York. Skilled as he might be, Mauser was clearly not born into the ecosystem where that dream of his was plausible or conceivable. As such, Mauser went on a hell-bent journey to prove himself.
Distant from each other’s circumstances, the sheer stubbornness of Mauser, however, seemed almost impossible to envision another actor than Chalamet playing him. Arguably, since the success of the first installment of Dune (2021), Chalamet has been increasingly hardworking, not just in his commitment to each new performance, but how he is painstakingly making a name for and of himself, as one of Hollywood’s leading men of his era. It is in this spirit that his turn as Mauser was all the more riveting.
Based loosely on the real-life table tennis player Marty Reisman, this film is superbly paced. A screenplay so tight, there was not one scene that was wasted. It was simply difficult not to be and stay engaged throughout the film.
Six years after Uncut Gems (2019), Safdie turned in one of the year’s most exhilarating films, pushing him closer to being regarded as an auteur.
Another yardstick to measure the strength of a filmmaker is their ability to direct great performances. Apart from Chalamet’s titular character, a couple of other characters stood out, namely Rachel (played by Odessa A’zion) and Kay Stone (played by Gwyneth Paltrow).
On a more technical note, the tight pacing of the film which felt as if it was grabbing us by our neck, was due to the incredible editing by none other than Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein themselves. Not to every moviegoer’s taste, but those who appreciate would be deeply impressed by the fact that Safdie wore so many hats on this film, but managed to pull it off the way we witnessed it on the screen.
Marty Supreme may be a period film that runs two-and-a-half hours, but it is not your run of the mill sports film, and just by the premise of its story alone is sufficient to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. Last but not least, people who enjoy 80’s music might be delighted by how this film starts and ends.
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