Name: Marty Supreme
Genre: Drama, Sport, Comedy
Released: 2026-01-23
Rating: 8.0
Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Odessa A'zion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Fran Drescher

Marty Mauser is a driven young man chasing an unusual dream: making it big in professional ping pong, a sport few take seriously. Loosely based on the life of legendary player Marty Reisman, the film follows Marty’s hard-fought journey as he pushes himself to the limit to prove his worth and bring respect to the game he loves. Along the way, his single-minded focus takes a personal toll, forcing him to face what he’s willing to give up for a dream few believe in. The film earned strong critical praise and wide awards recognition, receiving multiple nominations across major ceremonies. Timothée Chalamet’s performance was especially celebrated, winning both a Golden Globe and a Critics’ Choice Award.

Marty Supreme

Times of India

India Today

Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme marks a confident sharpening of his signature style. Like his previous endeavours, the film is frantic and abrasive, but more controlled and purposeful. Set against the hyper-competitive world of professional table tennis, the film employs sport as a lens rather than a spectacle, examining how identity fractures under the pressure to succeed. This is not a triumph narrative, but rather a descent into obsession.
Timothée Chalamet is exceptional in his portrayal of Marty, who is volatile, deeply insecure, and painfully-driven. The performance is a balance between arrogance and a gnawing fear of insignificance. Chalamet sheds any movie-star polish, committing fully to a physically demanding and emotionally raw performance. Marty isn’t meant to be admired, and yet he is endlessly compelling as a figure whose intensity propels the film forward even in its most uncomfortable moments.
Safdie’s direction is immersive and relentless. Handheld camerawork, invasive close-ups, and overlapping dialogue trap the audience inside Marty’s spiralling mindset. The film’s sound design and editing heighten the sense of constant agitation. Quieter scenes include strained conversations and moments of isolation to carry devastating weight. Unlike some of Safdie’s earlier work, the chaos here feels intentional rather than indulgent.
The supporting cast strengthens the film considerably. Gwyneth Paltrow and Odessa A’zion bring restraint and emotional intelligence, grounding the narrative and offering counterpoints to Marty’s volatility. Their performances prevent the film from collapsing into pure character excess, reinforcing its emotional stakes.
Despite being dense and demanding, Marty Supreme rarely loses focus. Its themes on masculinity, validation, exploitation, and self-worth are woven directly into the plot rather than delivered as commentary. Most importantly, the film’s exploration of power, validation, and exploitation doesn’t veer into caricature, and although it doesn’t offer catharsis or easy conclusions, that decision feels earned.
Marty Supreme is gripping, unsettling, and impressively assured. It’s a film that challenges its audience, trusting them to sit with discomfort and rewards them with one of the year’s most arresting character portraits.

There is no such thing as calm in Marty Supreme. Directed by Josh Safdie, the film moves with the breathless intensity of a never-ending ping-pong rally. Across its 149-minute runtime, the movie refuses to take a breath, instead it is keen on accelerating forward on pure momentum, turning what looks like a sports biopic into a feverish screwball spectacle about obsession, ego, and survival.
At the centre of this beautifully exhausting storm is Timothee Chalamet, delivering one of his most physically committed performances yet. He plays Marty Mauser, a fast-talking hustler loosely inspired by real-life table tennis legend Marty 'The Needle' Reisman. Marty is all twitchy limbs and nervous energy, equal parts street-smart schemer and narcissist dreamer. Chalamet makes him magnetic and deeply irritating in the same breath, a character who glides through life convinced that audacity alone would bend the world in his favour.

Set in early-1950s New York, Marty Supreme introduces its hero as a Jewish shoe-store clerk with delusions of grandeur, a patented ping-pong ball called 'Marty Supreme' and a relentless desire to conquer an emerging sport. He’s also juggling an affair with his married childhood sweetheart Rachel (Odessa A’zion), betting recklessly and chasing enough money to take his talents to Britain’s table tennis championships at Wembley. From there, the film leaps continents and tonal gears, trading sports-movie convention for cultural satire and outright provocation.
Crucially, Marty Supreme has little interest in being a traditional sports film. There are no inspirational montages, no wise mentors, no clean arcs of victory and redemption. The table tennis matches themselves feel almost incidental. Instead, Safdie treats the sport as a metaphor, every scene mimicking its rhythm, its violence, its dizzying back-and-forth. The movie doesn’t move like a narrative so much as it ricochets, powered by deals, insults, erotic detours, racial tension, and bursts of genuine vulnerability.

By the time the film reaches its final stretch, chaos has fully taken over. Marty is scrambling for money, burning bridges, and chasing validation with the desperation of someone who knows time is running out. And yet, amid the noise, Marty Supreme lands on something unexpectedly tender. The final moments suggest not triumph, but a bruised, hard-earned self-awareness.
Exhausting, audacious and often outrageous, Marty Supreme is not for those craving comfort or clarity. But as a cinematic experience that is loud, reckless, and oddly moving, it’s a marvel.

Marty Supreme | Official Trailer HD | A24

Timothée Hal Chalamet is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and three BAFTA Film Awards. Chalamet began his career as a teenager in television productions, appearing in the drama series Homeland in 2012

Timothee Chalamet

Odessa A'zion

Gwyneth Paltrow

Francine Joy Drescher is an American actress and activist. She is best known for her role as Fran Fine in the popular TV series, The Nanny. Some of her other popular roles are seen in Saturday Night Fever, The Beautician and the Beast and Hotel Transylvania.

Marty Supreme(2026)