Table Lord: Timothee Chalamet in ‘Marty Supreme’.
MARTY SUPREME ***1/2 (150 minutes) M
As an indefatigable table tennis champ with the speed of a sprite and a Jovian, Timothée Chalamet presents another immersive performance, this time playing 1950s athlete Marty Mauser, a New York shoe salesman striving to plant a flag for himself and America right through the heart of international ping pong.
In stark contrast to his top turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Chalamet is a ball of energy as Marty proves his skills locally and internationally, struggling the whole time to keep his dream going.
While Marty is an admirable character, he’s not all that likeable. Nor, indeed, is he particularly honourable in the way he treats people – especially women – depending on whether he considers them useful to his goals.
What drives the humour-tinged drama is that his garish hubris is on full display almost all the time, even after doing the deed with a fading actress (Gwyneth Paltrow).
The wildly varying reactions to his bravado offer a captivating tale about hubris and the consequences it can bring. Being confident is one thing but push that lever too far too often and the world tends to bite back.
This leads to several pungent scenes illustrating how thin the line can be between arrogance and humility, with director Josh Safdie capturing Marty at key moments where his brio must give way to forces that are actually bigger than him.
Inspired, rather than based, on a real-life figure, the film is breathlessly paced, though its running time is a tad generous, with the unquestionably critical dog episode going on a bit.
Accompanying Chalamet’s outstanding performance are visuals and top-shelf production values that ooze with authenticity.
The superb docu-drama style cinematography by Darius Khondji (Eddington; a frequent Woody Allen collaborator) is matched by Bob Fosse-standard editing from Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, his co-writer. (Directors are often deeply involved in the editing process with some, such as the Coens, Robert Rodriguez and comedian Louis CK, taking screen credit.)
The period recreation is faultless with real sets being used throughout.
As for the table tennis bouts, Chalamet (also a producer) trained hard to look real in the heat of battle. Many shots show him thwacking a real ball, though brilliant digital work was inevitably used to fully recreate the intensity of the matches, often captured in master shots that look like clips from archival footage. It’s truly amazing. You won’t be able to tell.
The film’s realistic look owes a lot to having been shot on film, an increasingly popular practice, especially among younger filmmakers.
Bless’em all.
PRIMATE * (89 minutes) MA
A group of screaming teens are trapped in a luxurious, cliff-top house with a pet chimp that has gone nuts having been bitten by a mongoose infected with rabies.
Think Cujo with a monkey and you’ve got the measure of this film, with one huge caveat – it ain’t scary.
Full of gratuitous gore and glaring implausibilities – why would a simian with rabies suddenly acquire the theatricality of a sadistic human? – chalk this trash up as a date-night time killer for the easily spooked.