Marty Supreme by Josh Safdie
It seems improbable that the move I watch on January 1 will also be the best movie I see all year, but that's exactly what Marty Supreme, directed by Josh Safdie, feels like.
Timothée Chalamet plays Marty Mauser—a hustler, liar, in-denial-shoe-salesman, conman and aspiring ping pong champion—in 1950s New York, and it's probably the best performance of his career.
Like I try to do with most movies, I went in with little to no information. I'd just heard excellent reviews and comparisons to Uncut Gems (also directed by Safdi).
Both held up for me, though the Uncut Gems comparison perhaps feels a bit stretched.1 Both movies are chaotic and relentless and stressful. They're also at times claustrophobic and frequently hilarious.
But where Uncut Gems left me feeling anxious and uncomfortable throughout the entire viewing, Marty Supreme was just—tremendously fun. Our theatre had at least five laugh-out-loud moments and the writing of this movie delivered so many quotable, banger lines. It's a two and a half hour run time and it didn't feel like that at all. The movie earned every bit of that screen time.
I could have watched Chalamet play Marty for at least another hour with no complaints. It's a magnetic performance of a character who refuses to make a smart decision. I found myself simultaneously rooting for and against him throughout the film, but either way couldn't wait to see how he would get himself into, and then out of, the next over-the-top scenario he forced upon himself (and every other character he came near).
The cinematography by Darius Khondji is excellent, with tons of up-close and personal shots of characters who are all acting their asses off. There really wasn't a single bad performance to speak of, from Gwyneth Paltrow, to the Shark Tank guy (?) to... Tyler The Creator (!?).
As good as the entire cast was, the performance that Chalamet gives still blows everyone else out of the water. I'm not really sure what recent acting performance I've seen that comes close to this.
And that's the reason you should go see this film: to watch, arguably, the best actor in the business at the peak of his powers.
Overall: 70
I use the 20-80 scale to rate things.
I also didn't enjoy Uncut Gems whereas I loved this film. So perhaps that comp works better for others.↩