By Iain McLean

A24 have released their latest film, Marty Supreme and the mantra of “A24 never misses” remains true.

The film is already highly successful, as Timothée Chalamet went home with the ‘Best Actor in Musical or Comedy’ award at the Golden Globes. With Marty Supreme shooting for the stars, Chalamet is sure to collect multiple awards as the gold season rolls on.

The movie is a biopic, loosely based on Marty Reisman, a champion Table Tennis player from the 1940s-1950s. Reisman is still described as a charismatic, charming character, famed for his “hustling”. These traits have been translated into the film, and Chalamet portrays them perfectly.

Marty Supreme proves, once again, that Chalamet is a rising star in Hollywood.

We’ve already seen Chalamet shine in roles like Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s wildly successful ‘Dune’ series.

Recently, his performance as Bob Dylan in 2024’s ‘A Complete Unknown’ was praised highly by critics. The balance of drama and humour delivers the heart of the story, which Chalamet manages to balance perfectly within the role.

Chalamet is joined by co-star Odessa A’zion, who plays Rachel, Marty’s love interest.

Odessa, while still a small name within the film industry, has been gaining popularity recently with roles in “Until Dawn” and “I Love LA”. She has further displayed her prowess within Hollywood, as she was a perfect casting to star alongside Chalamet’s Marty Mauser.

The story revolves around Marty chasing his dreams, even if that means alienating those around him.

This is perfectly portrayed when Marty reappears in New York and walks into Rachel’s workplace. The chemistry between Odessa and Chalamet never falters; no matter how toxic their relationship may be, they still choose each other to a fault.

The film is humorous, and the jokes land well. An example of this humour is seen when Marty makes a joke themed towards Auschwitz over dinner.

The film is not afraid to maintain historical accuracy. The events are occurring in the 1940s, where World War 2 has just ended and global tensions remain high. This directly links to Marty’s final goal: America beating Japan in the table tennis championships.

Gwyneth Paltrow, starring as Kay Stone, deserves mass accolades for her portrayal of the role.

This was the most perplexing casting choice as I didn’t even recognise it was this person until the credits rolled. The actor is none other than Kevin O’Leary, himself, the businessman best known for the series ‘Shark Tank’ and ‘Dragon’s Den’.

The third actor is Tyler Okonma, best known as Tyler the Creator. Okonma plays Wally, Marty’s best friend, who joins Marty during one of his schemes to gather funds to get to Tokyo.

These are solid stand-out scenes with incredible chemistry, not just between the characters but the actors themselves. The main mission is to hustle as many people as they can before they’re noticed, which leads to a fiery conclusion.

The most important thing about the film is the soul. Even though this film follows Marty and his schemes and scams that repeatedly put his loved ones in danger. It never lets the audience forget what is most important: family and loved ones.

The film both opens and closes with family. In the beginning, Marty doesn’t much care for his family, not falling for his mother’s attempts to see him more often or trying not to show much invested emotion in Rachel.

Around the end of the film, it’s completely flipped and it’s an entirely new Marty, which is highlighted by its incredibly moving final scenes.

The film is a massive achievement for its Director, Josh Safdie and his co-writer, Ronald Bronstein; rightfully winning a Golden Globe.

The Cinemas are fighting for their survival against streaming giants like Netflix and Paramount+ and a release this good that gets people in the door helps in that fight.

Another great achievement the film established is the score and soundtrack.

The composer is Daniel Lopatin, who previously scored for ‘Uncut Gems’, ‘The Bling Ring’ and ‘Good Time’.

Lopatin made the bold choice of going for a synth-based soundtrack and including 80s hits, rather than sticking to just the time period’s style. Which was a surprising but well-thought-out decision.

There’s going to be two songs stuck in your head when you leave the cinema and it’s Alphaville’s ‘Forever Young’ and Tears for Fears ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’.

This is another notch in A24’s ‘crown jewel’ of films, joining other A24 knockouts like ‘Civil War’ (2024), ‘Everything, Everywhere All at Once’ (2022) and ‘The Whale’ (2022).

Mary Supreme should be experienced in the cinemas to really enjoy and appreciate the art and greatness of this film. Don’t wait for it to come out on streaming platforms.

Don’t wait for it to come out on streaming platforms in 3 months. There’s never been a bigger reason to go to your cinema while it’s out, except of course the first ever trilogy to reach a billion dollars directed by one James Cameron.

Get ready to witness this mind-altering film, with amazing drama and comedy, all wrapped up in a tennis ball.

Marty Supreme gives A24 another ‘Game Winning Point’