Cover Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser in ‘Marty Supreme’ (Photo: courtesy of IMDB)
Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser in ‘Marty Supreme’ (Photo: courtesy of IMDB)
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Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of the ping-pong-playing title character in the Oscar-nominated movie ‘Marty Supreme’—part genius, part self‑sabotaging dreamer—is as brilliant as it is exhausting
As an arts editor who advocates for (and is a huge fan of) ballet and opera, I felt conflicted about whether or not to watch and review Marty Supreme. After all, lead actor Timothée Chalamet plunged himself into hot water in the arts world after dismissing the traditional forms of dance and music as culturally irrelevant—and his latest role seems almost to echo that defiance.
But casting aside my bias for a moment—as I do care about cinema as an artform—Marty Supreme, which opened in Hong Kong cinemas on March 19, is “painful” to watch for two reasons. (Caution, spoilers ahead.)
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Above Odessa A'zion and Timothée Chalamet in ‘Marty Supreme’ (Photo: courtesy of IMDB)
Odessa A'zion and Timothée Chalamet in ‘Marty Supreme’ (Photo: courtesy of IMDB)
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First, the central character, table tennis whiz Marty Mauser, a fictionalised version of real‑life ping-pong prodigy Marty Reisman, who competed in the 1952 World Table Tennis Championships, is a pain in the neck. He’s a sore loser, a politically insensitive braggart, and an underappreciated talent with a big dream, huge ego and complicated family background. These traits combined add up to a chaotic portrait of drive and destruction.
The film’s director Josh Safdie crafts a feverish two‑and‑a‑half‑hour descent into this world-champion hopeful’s world of ambition and arrogance. His path to global fame is fraught with a series of unfortunate circumstances: family neglect, an uncle who disparages his table tennis dream and forces him to pursue a shoe salesman job, an affair with his married childhood friend—whom he gets pregnant—and exploitation and humiliation by the rich and powerful. The intense pacing of these ill-fated events is brilliantly executed and, coupled with Mauser’s big mouth and his excitingly portrayed tournaments, keeps the audience on edge from start to finish.
Above Gwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone in ‘Marty Supreme’ (Photo: courtesy of IMDB)
Gwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone in ‘Marty Supreme’ (Photo: courtesy of IMDB)
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Second—and perhaps the more painful reason—is how annoyingly good Chalamet’s acting is. The actor inhabits the character so convincingly that the line between reality and performance blurs, particularly in scenes where Mauser deceives journalists at the Ritz and spirals into desperate self‑promotion. When one of them asks about his background, Mauser slouches in his seat and jokes obnoxiously about how boring his story is, as a way of eluding the question. This is painfully reminiscent of Chalamet’s body language when he made that remark about the live arts being obsolete and something “no one cares about” in a town hall conversation with Matthew McConaughey in February. Was Chalamet channelling his Marty Supreme character?
The French-American actor might not have taken home a golden figurine for his performance in the film, which also stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Odessa A’zion, but there’s no denying that he delivers an absolutely atrocious Mauser—and that’s meant as a compliment. From the close-up shots of the humiliation on his face when being disciplined by a tycoon he offended and his desperation to win a particularly important final to his coming to terms with the unfamiliar feeling of stardom, Chalamet proves he is “supreme” in his own game. He also reportedly trained for years under former US Olympian Wei Wang and Diego Schaaf to perfect the movements of a world‑class player.
Above Endo (Koto Kawaguchi) playing against Mauser (Chalamet) in ‘Marty Supreme’ (Photo: courtesy of IMDB)
Endo (Koto Kawaguchi) playing against Mauser (Chalamet) in ‘Marty Supreme’ (Photo: courtesy of IMDB)
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Yet Marty Supreme is not a one‑man triumph. Much of its power lies in the script’s deft character development and refusal to romanticise its anti‑hero. Mauser’s fractured relationships hint at a deeper issue: the impossible pursuit of visibility in a culture driven by spectacle. The story draws unspoken parallels between post‑war resilience and modern‑day self‑invention, contrasting Mauser’s manic ambition with a Japanese rival’s inner serenity.
The film is visually sumptuous. Cinematographer Darius Khondji fuses 1950s modernism with kinetic contemporary flair, creating frames that glint like polished chrome. Despite one over‑produced digital credits sequence depicting fertilisation—perhaps symbolic, perhaps needless—the film otherwise gleams with restraint and intelligence.
Marty Supreme may not be easy viewing, but its discomfort is precisely what makes it unforgettable: a stylish, infuriating and masterful study of ego and artistry colliding in full cinematic glare.
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
