Sports drama Marty Supreme offers a masterclass in making failure fascinating

Marty Supreme (M18)

149 minutes, opens on Feb 26
★★★★☆

The story: In 1952 New York, Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) is a shoe salesman trying to be the world’s greatest table tennis player. It is a lonely dream because no one, not even his mother (Fran Drescher), has any faith in it. He hatches a series of plans to fly to London, and later Tokyo, so he can make his name on the world stage. Despite setbacks, Marty’s faith in himself remains undimmed.

Oscar-buzz movies have long celebrated morally repulsive male characters, from ruthless tycoon Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood, 2007) to stock-market swindler Jordan Belfort (The Wolf Of Wall Street, 2013). Add Marty Mauser to the list.

Plainview and Belfort are gifted men, born in the right time and place to transform their talent into money and power.

Marty yearns to rise in the world, but he was born the butt of a cosmic joke. He could be the man he thinks he is – the world’s best table tennis player – but in 1950s America, he might as well be the world’s greatest kazoo player, for all the good it does him.

A lesser man, or a smarter one, would stop dreaming and accept that there are worse things than being a shoe salesman. Marty sees the steady, well-paying job as an insult.

Over the film’s two-hour-plus running time, American writer-director Josh Safdie challenges viewers to enjoy the company of this unlikeable egotist, not because he is aspirational, but because he is pathetic.

Like so many afflicted with self-pity, Marty is blind to kindness or opportunity; almost every character who is generous with him later regrets it.

He is the archetypal Safdie male character – a striver from the streets, as was gambling addict Howard (Adam Sandler) from Uncut Gems (2019) or bank robber Constantine (Robert Pattinson) from Good Time (2017). Both films were co-directed with Safdie’s actor-brother Benny Safdie, before their alleged falling out over an incident involving an underage actress on the set of Good Time.

Josh Safdie fills the screen with memorable characters far more corrupt than Marty, justifying somewhat Marty’s preference for taking shortcuts and grifting to get ahead.

English travel writer Pico Iyer, one of several non-actors roped in for supporting roles, is Ram Sethi, the suave but deeply classist face of the British table tennis establishment. Canadian entrepreneur and TV personality Kevin O’Leary portrays – what else? – a sleazy businessman who offers Marty a classic Faustian pact.

Chalamet plays a contradiction. Marty’s charm hides a selfishness so intense, it might be sociopathic. The born salesman is smart enough to con his way into the circle of elites, but too stupidly self-sabotaging to follow through and establish himself there.

The French-American actor makes this bundle of conflicting traits feel whole and coherent, and the awards acclaim – including a Best Actor nomination at the upcoming Academy Awards – is fully deserved.

Hot take: Josh Safdie challenges audiences to enjoy the company of an irredeemably pathetic narcissist, and remarkably, he succeeds.