11/12 ForReel Score | 4.5/5 Stars

After the titular character sings his poor little heart out to “Fare Thee Well” at the climax of the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, Llewyn’s emotionally charged ballad is immediately upstaged by Bob Dylan playing Farewell at the same venue. Marty Supreme’s Marty Mauser (played by Timothée Chalamet) shares a similarly humbling fate, with the irony being compounded by Chalamet having also played Bob Dylan in last year’s A Complete Unknown, placing him on two sides of the same coin. Greatness isn't for everybody, and sometimes we’ve got to trade those grandiose pipe dreams for the big time in exchange for humility instead. Marking Josh Safdie’s first solo outing after parting ways with brother Benny, Marty Supreme is a wiry, globe-trotting, capital-A American thriller helmed by a career-best Timothée Chalamet.

Benny and Josh Safdie split up in early 2024 (for reasons unknown), leaving everyone asking the same question that was asked of the Coens in the early 2020s: which brother had the juice? After Benny’s The Smashing Machine effectively flopped commercially and critically, it seems like Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme is the conclusion to such a short-lived debate. Maybe it’s because The Smashing Machine, a biopic of UFC champion Mark Kerr, leaned more towards docu-style experimentation, while Marty Supreme, loosely based on ping pong superstar Marty Reisman, supplies that trademark Safdie shot of adrenaline that I’ve been fiending for since seeing Uncut Gems in an empty theater in January 2020. And, by all metrics, Marty Supreme is so adrenaline-fueled that it feels like you’re about to overdose.

Marking Josh Safdie’s fifth collaboration with co-writer Ronald Bronstein (who was also the lead of the Safdies’ first feature, Daddy Longlegs), Marty Supreme doesn’t have that same lightning-in-a-bottle tightness as Uncut Gems had, but that tightness is exchanged for a vast sprawl that makes a two-and-a-half-hour runtime feel like a tense ninety minutes. Bursting at the seams with a hungry sense of ambition, there’s never a dull moment in Marty Supreme, filling each minute with a controlled sense of chaos until all hell breaks loose. People are rapidly talking over each other in classic Safdie fashion, making every conversation with more than two people feel dizzying. Whether it’s Abel Ferrara trying to take care of his always-barking dog or the back-and-forth between Chalamet and a scheming Kevin O’Leary (was he even acting in this movie?), there’s enough commotion in Marty Supreme to last a lifetime.

Lensed by Se7en cinematographer Darius Khondji, scored by longtime Safdie collaborator Daniel Lopatin (better known as Oneohtrix Point Never), and with production design by the legendary Jack Fisk, Josh Safdie has assembled his own version of the Avengers for Marty Supreme. Fisk’s 1950s-era production design makes Marty Supreme’s New York feel as lived-in as any other great New York thriller, with Lopatin’s anachronistically synth-heavy score pairing excellently with Safdie’s breakneck pace. Just like his work on Uncut Gems, Khondji’s images are seedy and grimy, with his close-ups, low lighting, tracking shots, long zooms, and 35mm film grain checking all the Safdie boxes we know and love. It’s not exactly the neon-lit splendour of Good Time, but Marty Supreme is still an overstimulating audiovisual treat that, like its protagonist, refuses to relent.

I’ve got something of a soft spot for the Safdie brothers’ crime-thrillers Good Time and Uncut Gems, both of which I watched during my most formative years as a young cinephile. Given their success in the late 2010s, it’s easy to forget the Safdies’ breakout film, Daddy Longlegs, which has more in common with Marty Supreme than any other film in the Safdie filmography. It’s an intoxicating genre cocktail of sport biopic, dark comedy, New York crime-thriller (Abel Ferrara has an astonishingly good supporting role), and would probably make a great double feature with Darren Aronofsky’s recent Caught Stealing. Like Daddy Longlegs, though, Marty Supreme is also a total downer in equal measure. It’s as much about the delusions of success as it is about the self-destruction and alienation that come with those pursuits, which often do more harm than good.

What’s funny about Marty Supreme is that it feels like the punchline to a year-long joke Chalamet has been making about the pursuit of success – look no further than his SAG award speech, which I’m pretty sure he was in character for. The film’s tagline, “Dream big,” has been plastered across the film’s marketing campaign, with figures such as Tom Brady and Bill Nye the Science Guy posting up in Marty Supreme bomber jackets on Instagram. “Dream big” is merely an elaborate campaign to hide the true irony of Marty Supreme: accepting mediocrity. Marty’s refusal to come in second place ends up being his downfall, dropping him from the top of the world to running scams with his buddy Wally (played by Tyler, the Creator). Like most Safdie protagonists, Marty’s undoing is by his own design, but he still gets off easier than most.

There’s a youthful bounce that echoes throughout Marty Supreme like a rubber ball in an enclosed space, most of which resides on the shoulders of Timothée Chalamet at the height of his powers. His self-assured cockiness is infectiously charming at first, but that charm subsides as Marty begins to exploit and toy with those around him. The person he claims is his best friend is nothing but a merchandiser and an extra bed to crash on in a time of crisis, plus his baby mama is relegated to literally being his partner in crime. All of his relationships are transactional, leaving him more alone than he would ever want to be; it’s a classic dog-eat-dog American story. People aren’t human to Marty; they’re just stepping stones on his path to greatness, no matter their relationship to him.

As much as the “Dream big” motto is a red herring to the core patheticism of Marty Mauser, it’s safe to say that everyone behind Marty Supreme has tried and succeeded in their ambitions to make a truly great film. It’s a gargantuan movie that’s still in the early stages of what’s sure to be a viral marketing campaign, and I can’t imagine a world in which this isn’t a total box office, critical, and awards-season success. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Timothée Chalamet is the actor to be watching right now, and he’s already set to make another splash next year in Denis Villeneuve’s highly anticipated Dune: Part Three. Neither Josh Safdie nor Timothée Chalamet are showing any signs of slowing down, and it’s only up from here for both of them. Even if the movie says otherwise, maybe there’s still some merit in dreaming big.

Movie Review: "Marty Supreme" Reigns Supreme With A Career-Best Performance From Timothée Chalamet