This review contains spoilers. 

What does it mean to ping-pong? 

Sure, the word evokes a sport in which viewers can watch ping-pong balls rocket back and forth in succession. But in “Marty Supreme,” director Josh Safdie gives this action dual meaning — “ping-pong” can also describe the rapid exchange of chaos that’s delivered at a frantic pace throughout the film.  

The film features 23-year-old Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet), an irrepressible anti-hero and table tennis shark, alongside Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion), a young married woman who finds her life intertwined with Mauser’s. Gwyneth Paltrow also returns to the screen to deliver her most piercing performance yet as Kay Stone, the 50-something former movie star who falls victim to Mauser’s impudent charm by engaging in secret affairs at The Ritz hotel in London, behind curtains in Broadway theaters and in parks after dark. 

Married to Milton Rockwell, one of New York’s most infamous businessmen, Stone understands the consequences of ambition in a way Mauser does not. 

The film emphasizes the juxtaposition between Stone and Mauser, introducing ridiculous and magnetic plot points that demonstrate Marty’s unapologetic ego, hunger and relentless drive. 

Mauser has a single dream: to prove that he, a local ping-pong hustler who plays for moderately cheap stakes, can win an international table tennis tournament in London and demonstrate that he is the best in the world.

For a restless, poor bloke from the Lower East Side, peers around the athlete assure him that it’s a tall order. However, Mauser bets on no one but himself. Chalamet’s character arrogantly strolls into rooms presupposing his own future legend, although no one seems to have a clue as to who he is.

Through hyperkinetic camerawork, high-velocity dialogue and frenzied pacing, the film serves as a feverish expose to the American Dream. 

Western exceptionalism has historically seeped its way into the film industry. While these movies typically encourage the painless victory of the underdog, “Marty Supreme” challenges that loyalty. 

What are you willing to do to escape the crummy, denuded life everyone around you seems fated to? You must hurdle one hustle after another. 

The camera feels anchored to Mauser’s nervous system. Safdie’s pacing is breathless, and each scene is dependent on chaotic movement, personality and perspective. The cinematography provides the film a textured, intimate beauty rooted in the time period’s absence of polish. 

Characters slash the camera with impulsive gestures via exaggerating frenzied motions, which allow the audience to get up close and personal. The film’s personality explains its lively mix of both professional actors and notables from other industries. Clips bleed into one another, often with no explanation as to what happened only moments prior. 

The film can feel overstuffed at times, yet it never loses its momentum. It is deeply frustrating, unexpectedly sincere and exhausting in ways that feel intentional rather than accidental. There is a distinct cinematic electricity that prompts you to jump out of your seat, grasp at your chest or hold your breath in fear. 

With each moment, “Marty Supreme” pulls you into its audacious escapades and then right back out, leaving you disoriented, although eager. 

Viewers witness Mauser evade blown-up dogs, sunken toilets and his pathologically lying mother to achieve glory. 

While the film may sound absurd on paper, “Marty Supreme” goes far in analyzing the psychology of ambition. This is not your average athletic drama that hounds the importance of triumph and challenge in the wake of discouragement from others. 

In this film, delusion is fuel. 

This ambition motivates Mauser to chase a dream that is both within reach and confining, as he pursues greatness simply because he is incapable of imagining himself as anything but extraordinary. 

While the elements make the film a hot mess, “Marty Supreme” is also a beautiful extrapolation of all the mind-bending extremes life has to offer.  

You may not like it, but you’ll definitely feel it. And for Marty Mauser, that’s more than enough. 

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