Marty Supreme

Fresh off my first rewatch, I have recently become the host for a Marty Supreme-shaped parasite that steals a scary amount of my thoughts.

The piece most central to Marty Supreme’s strength as a film is a career-best performance from Timothée Chalamet. Marty’s desperate desire is made tangible and we become fully convinced that he believes in his purpose entirely. It is not clear whether Chalamet’s recent personality shift into vying for acting greatness and his lack of fear of sincerity during awards speeches is a result of the character of Marty having bled into his normal life, or whether it was this drive that has always been latent that led to Josh Safdie writing the character of Marty Mauser as he did. Marty is undeniably a shitty nephew, an awful friend, a neglectful lover, and a sore loser; still, Timothée makes it hard not to feel charmed or swayed by him. The film doesn’t have to explain to me how Marty keeps getting away with everything he does if Timothée can take me from my seat and make me a sucker alongside the rest of the cast.

You’d think that Josh Safdie was making the effort with his films to cause the largest number of heart attacks among those watching. In a very similar way to Uncut Gems – Josh’s previous directorial endeavour, still at the time co-directing with his brother Benny – many scenes in Marty Supreme create a palpable anxiety in the viewer. You’re stressed about Marty and you want Rachel to be safe and, shit, Ezra’s just pulled out a knife. Before you know it, you’ve sunk into your chair and a pit has formed in the seat of your chest. Safdie’s decision to set the film in a version of the 1950s stuffed with anachronistic dialogue is an excellent choice that made it more seamless to immerse yourself into the film’s world and connect with the characters. This is – importantly – not to say that a film needs these things to be worth the watch. Watching a contemporary film from that time period is often still a great experience, but having a modern picture retrofit itself into the period is an interesting decision.

One thing about the film that left a large impression on me after leaving the cinema was the talent (and variety) of the supporting cast. Odessa A’zion (Rachel) was absolutely incredible and really carried a lot of the film. I’d never seen her before, and her performance was more than enough make me question why. It’s also amazing seeing Gwyneth Paltrow back in the scene, and this really was quite the comeback. Her comeback is mirrored by her character attempting to re-enter the world of acting, albeit to unending criticism. Gwyneth, however, has faced very little. This is no doubt due to her effortless elegance that has been long-missed. Another really quite astounding performance was the role of businessman Milton Rockwell being cast as Kevin O’Leary, – Mr. Wonderful himself –investor of Shark Tank fame. This is his first ever acting role as someone other than himself (considering Rockwell’s character, this statement is debatable). Despite this, his screen presence was gargantuan, only matched by that of Koto Kawaguchi, who plays Marty’s rival Endo and is also a first-time actor! Kevin is able to inject so much venom into his delivery and really helps to make Rockwell such a detestable character. 

Marty is undeniably a shitty nephew, an awful friend, a neglectful lover, and a sore loser. 

Also, Penn Jillette (yes, from Penn and Teller) has a surprise, unrecognisable cameo. I would really be surprised if you noticed him without him being pointed out.

Still, all I can think about post-Marty is Timothée Chalamet. He has made it very clear in the past that he will stop at nothing to remembered as one of the acting greats. With this performance, I think it’s clear that he wasn’t just blowing hot air. I fully believe he has earned the arrogance that he displays. With a recent Best Actor win at the Golden Globes and a quite high chance at bagging the Oscar, I’m very excited for Dune: Messiah and whatever else Timothée decides to do.