Marty Supreme

The Safdie Brothers (Heaven Knows What, Good Time, Uncut Gems) are the latest cinematic siblings to go their separate ways after making several successful pictures as a duo. Oddly, both of their first solo offerings, released less than three months apart, are stories of driven American competitors in unusual sports competing in Japan for the ultimate prize. But while Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine feels like little more than a lackluster attempt to win its lead an Academy Award nomination, Josh Safdie's Benny Suprime is a deliriously entertaining film that should score a slew of Oscars noms and quite possibly a win for its star, little engine that could, Timothée Chalamet.

Chalamet, hot off his back-to-back successes of Dune: Part Two and A Complete Unknown (he should have won for his impressive take on Bob Dylan), plays aspiring 1950s-era ping pong player Marty Mauser, a scrawny, shifty, arrogant opportunist who will stop at nothing until he becomes the table tennis champion of the world. With a pockmarked face, unibrow, and thick spectacles, Chalamet is about as far from his Bob Dylan cool or his more typical twinkish appeal as he's ever gotten. Saftie had his star wear actual high-index glasses with contact lenses to correct for the heavy prescription, so Chalamet would always have a limitation to push against.

What a thrill to watch such an original movie. Though I'm sure this story is based on some actual table tennis players of this era, this is a rare contemporary prestige picture not based on a book, a play, or some other preexisting work. This is a movie based on research and passion, and you can feel it. Working with his usual co-writer and co-editor, Ronald Bronstein, Safdie creates a thrillingly lived-in world of post-war New York and several other major cities on an A-24 budget.

Like a more disciplined Uncut Gems, Benny Suprime is as relentless and doggedly persistent as its protagonist. The 149-minute film flies by as Marty jumps from scam to seduction to opportunity, to game to set to match, to all the detrimental and potentially fatal consequences that follow, and then back into the hustle again. The Safdie style of covering everything in slightly too-tight hand-held close-ups works the best it ever has here. The music choices, blending '80s and '40s hits, somehow work seamlessly (with one minor exception), and the hair, make-up, costumes, art direction, and cinematography create believable period characters in exquisitely rendered settings. Saftie utilizes well the immense talents of cinematographer Darius Khondji, known for his work with Jeunet & Caro, David Fincher, Michael Haneke, Woody Allen, James Gray, and the Safdies, and production designer Jack Fisk, known for his work with Terrence Malick, Brian De Palma, and David Lynch.

Similarly, this movie features an impeccable cast of diverse talents. First and foremost, there's Gwyneth Paltrow, whose rare returns to movies are always welcome, as a wealthy, glamorous, semi-retired actress and socialite whom Marty forges a strange connection with. Canadian businessman and star of the reality television show Dragons' Den makes his acting debut as the film's principal antagonist, a businessman whom Marty introduces to ping-pong. Rapper, songwriter, producer, and fashion designer Tyler Okonma nails his role as Marty's taxi-driving, ping-pong hustling buddy. And Odessa A'zion (an actress I'm unfamiliar with) is fantastic as Marty’s married best friend, with whom he’s having an affair, who gets roped into several of his schemes.

A slew of great actors and celebrities—Fran Drescher, Sandra Bernhard, Géza Röhrig, Isaac Mizrahi, David Mamet, Philippe Petit, Ted Williams, and Penn Jillette—show up in minor roles that all feel like perfect casting rather than distracting cameos. We almost wish this movie had time to slow down so we could spend more time with these folks. The more audacious casting choice is Abel Ferrara as a criminal that Marty gets on the wrong side of. All of these collaborators contribute to the overall sense of surprise and delight that Safdie maintains throughout this picture. Despite its prolonged intensity and occasional discomfort, this is a rare picture that I think everyone is going to eat up with a spoon. It's been forever since I've seen a great movie that I knew for sure was going to be both a huge hit and a major awards contender. It's thrilling to see that happen again at the end of a pretty uneven year of movies.