Will the buzzy award-winning movie Marty Supreme herald Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar win?
Usually when we talk about someone’s “due date,” it’s on the back of an incredible career that spans decades and is filled with movies that absolutely could have, and probably should have, given birth.
Glenn Close is the undisputed queen of the Academy Awards’ all-time bridesmaid troupe. She was first nominated in 1983, winning Best Supporting Actress for her role as an overbearing amoral author in The World According to Garp, but lost to Jessica Lange for Tootsie.
She’s been seen seven more times, most recently in Hillbilly Elegy, but her role as the cunning Marquise de Merteuil in Les Liaisons was definitely her best shot. However, it was given to Jodie Foster in The Accuser.
The only person who has been knocked back as often as Close is the legendary Peter O’Toole. Although he’s no longer with us, at least he won a prestigious Oscar in 2002.
So it’s somewhat ridiculous to discuss Chalamet in this esteemed company when Chalamet is still young. just I turned 30 years old.
The Oscars aren’t known for favoring young men. Leonardo DiCaprio was 41 years old when he won The Revenant after five losses. The only person younger than Chalamet to actually win was Adrien Brody, 29, for “The Piano.”
If anything, Chalamet should consider himself lucky. This is his third nomination in a row, following 2018’s “Call Me By Your Name” and last year’s mediocre Bob Dylan biopic “Completely Unknown.”
Is Marty Supreme Chalamet still the best bet?
Equal parts excruciating and exhilarating, Marty Supreme follows Chalamet’s hapless antihero, bespectacled shoe salesman Marty Moser, like the hounds of hell chasing him. And maybe he deserves it?
We meet this talkative opportunity man in 1952, in a run-down corner of New York City that has yet to feel the benefits of the post-World War II economic boom. A nervous writer, he works lazily at his uncle’s shoe store. But it doesn’t last long.
Every fiber of his being is set toward one goal. It’s about scraping together enough money to get out of here and fly to London to win the World Table Tennis Championships.
Marty Supreme is loosely based on the life of American table tennis hustler Marty Reisman. (Accessories: A24)
As a result, the shameless con artist gambles, steals, cheats, and scrapes on the streets to escape from her brazen husband, gangsters, cops, robbers, and an inexplicably collapsed bathroom. At other times, he mercilessly shakes off his clinging mother and leaves her weeping in her childhood bed, portrayed so fleetingly by Fran Drescher in The Nanny.
Marty and the movie wait for no one.
Like the Odyssey, it’s a frantically-paced farce that bounces around the island from one elaborately imagined disaster to another.
Hellraiser’s lead, Odessa Azion, is our toilsome Penelope in this analogy. Marty has a brief relationship with her and is then repeatedly absent. This is despite Rachel’s determined willingness to facilitate each of her numerous but ever-escalating reckless money-making schemes.
He will also press his pathetic sidekick Wally (Tyler Okonma, aka prolific rapper Tyler the Creator) into service to his increasingly desperate plans. Even if it means the taxis that are Wally’s livelihood have become significantly worse at wear and tear.
After all, it’s London’s mission.
Tyler Okonma, also known as rapper Tyler the Creator, makes his feature film debut in Marty Supreme. (Accessories: A24)
solo safdi
It’s directed by Josh Safdie, one half of the brotherly duo that gave us hives in Uncut Gems, and written by Ronald Bronstein, the film’s screenwriter and partner of If I Had Legs director Mary Bronstein.
This team should give you some sense of the bloodbath you’re about to experience.
An all-or-nothing kind of guy, Marty’s fierce determination hits a brick wall in the British capital in the form of Japanese contestant Koto Endo, played by real-life table tennis player Koto Kawaguchi.
Marty Supreme is director Josh Safdie (left)’s first feature since splitting from his brother and creative partner Benny. (Accessories: A24)
He also fell foul of the withering officials of the sport’s organizing body, particularly writer Pico Ayer, who imposed a huge fine on Marty, almost denying him a chance at a rematch in Tokyo.
To do that, Marty needs to woo Kay Stone, a declining Hollywood star, in a mercenary way, but things go awry…off Broadway. There’s no doubt he’s after her money, but Chalamet and Paltrow’s undeniable chemistry gives the case a screwball spark.
If she’s the no-nonsense angel on Marty’s right shoulder, her gruff tycoon husband Milton, played by Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, is the devil.
If Paltrow brings the sizzle, O’Leary has the grizzle. He’s a great bad guy and pretty much the only one in this movie. Really Put Marty in his place.
Newcomer Odessa Azion plays a great role as Marty’s childhood friend Rachel. (Accessories: A24)
If Chalamet isn’t as impressive here as he was in his more visceral role in Call Me By Your Name, he’s elevated by the magnificent ensemble. Marty Supreme bounces us around like a ping pong ball. Whether you deserve an Oscar or not, you’ll leave the theater with the biggest smile on your face.
Marty Supreme is currently showing in Australian cinemas.