“I know we’re in a subjective business, but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness.” You’d be mistaken to think these were the words of Marty Mauser, but in fact, these were the authentic (somewhat polarizing) words of Timothée Chalamet, memorably accepting his Screen Actors Guild Award for last year’s A Complete Unknown. One glance at Chalamet’s career and it’s incapable to deny he is on that path. In fact, it’s hard to imagine that the character of Marty Mauser wasn’t at least a bit influential in vocalizing the young star’s honest attitude. But as the saying goes “you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?” and Marty Supreme is a sprint. 

Set in 1952, (very) loosely based on the life and career of Marty Reisman, Marty Mauser is an aspirational and gifted table tennis player. A hot-shot egomaniac with a God-like talent for the sport, Mauser is on the “pursuit of the greatness”, determined to climb to the top of the international tennis championship totem pole as a global superstar. Throughout his chaotic journey, he reunites with former flame Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion), a married pet store employee who is 8 months pregnant with Marty’s child. He also crosses paths with gaming pal and taxi driver Wally (Tyler Okonma), begins an affair with retired movie star Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) behind the back of her husband, Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary)- a businessman who invests in Marty’s career, and winds up taking care of a dog owned by dangerous criminal Ezra Mishkin (Abel Ferrara). With every misadventure Marty winds up in, either to scrape for cash or escape the law or simply just to get ahead with each match, he finds a way to screw someone over and, through verbal charm, persuade them back. 

Marty Mauser is a character that should spare no sympathy from the audience, and yet with the perfect casting of Chalamet, somehow we’re still on his side, or at least, willing to see where he goes next. Chalamet doesn’t portray Marty as inherently mean in his selfishness, moreso completely unaware that other human beings carry the same importance he does. Everybody in his life is just a face that talks, a hand to assist, a cog in a machine, which can lead to him cutting deep insults with no grasp of empathy. Despite his off-putting narcism, he also still means well, as long as things are working out for him. It’s a tight-rope character for audience engagement and Chalamet doesn’t just stay balanced, he’s able to float above viewer resentment in the same manner as Leonardo DiCaprio playing Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street or Adam Sandler in Safdie’s Uncut Gems. He’s just bursting with so much passion for the thing that drives him, you’d feel robbed if you didn’t see him succeed despite how cruel he can be. His determination becomes oddly relatable. 

One outstanding element of this film, one of many, is its brilliant casting. Not just the performances themselves, all of which are electric and perfectly tuned to the Redbull energy Safdie crafts from the director’s chair, but the unexpected brilliance of the actors chosen, such as grabbing a soft-retired Oscar winner to portray a golden age celebrity and reminding you what a big deal it used to be to have Gwyneth Paltrow in your movie. Tyler Okonma (or Tyler the Creator) who has never acted in a film before, feels as natural in front of a camera as any Oscar nominee in the cast. The same goes for Kevin O’Leary (AKA Mr. Wonderful) who perfectly fits the kind of role you’d expect a Bryan Cranston or J.K. Simmons would have been offered first. A striking new talent making a huge impression in Odessa A’zion, international faces like Géza Röhrig, character actors like Abel Ferrara, Emory Cohen, Sandra Bernhard, Fran Drescher as Marty’s mother Rebecca perfectly plugged into the wider ensemble. You even have the viral “man with the golden voice” Ted Williams showing up! David Mamet! But nobody feels out of place. It’s the most brilliant of-the-box ensemble of the year.

On top of that, all working with a tremendous, bonkers, rollercoaster of a script, is an expertly assembled team of top-tier talent. Darius Khondji’s vintage wide scope 35mm lens paired with legendary art director Jack Fisk’s gargantuan interior designs, recreate 1950s New York to an immersive degree. Daniel Lopatin’s score is thunderous and propulsive but transfixing to the ears. Synth-pop 80s hits contrast its three-decades-behind time period, but add both a curious subtext of Marty being a man far ahead of everyone else in his world. It’s easily the best use of Alphaville’s “Forever Young” since Napoleon Dynamite.

Safdie has made a stressful 150-minute epic, but one that’s not without a sweet release of comedy. Bathtubs crash through floorboards, cars speed through porches, hell, the opening credits sequence alone is one of the biggest laughs of the year. It’s a pulse-raiser, enough to make you want to pause and take a quiet lap around the theatre before you’re ready to sit down again, but our investment in Marty keeps us locked in. His stress is our stress, even when we’re stressed because of him. Our engagement with him is unshakable. The entire experience is pure adrenaline and resonates long after the credits roll as cinematic bliss, a mesmerizing directorial feat. In this pursuit of greatness, Josh Safdie has made a great American film and Timothee Chalamet has cemented himself as one of our great performers.