Nothing Ever Lasts Forever
Marty Supreme is irresistible entertainment. Is that enough?
Marty Supreme doesn’t, in the sense that other films do, have an opening shot. It opens in the middle of a moment, with nondescript close-ups of shoe salesman Marty Mauser (Timotheé Chalamet) rummaging through shelves to find the right pair for a customer. Josh Safdie’s most recent films (the ones directed with his brother Benny, anyway) begin with ease-in establishing shots: Good Time with a silent close-up of a tearful Benny, Uncut Gems with an eerie helicopter shot sweeping over an Ethiopian mine. Marty Supreme just sort of starts, refusing to signal in any recognizable way that a story is about to begin.
An impolite way to start, perhaps, but Marty Mauser is an impolite kind of guy. Marty dreams of making a living as a professional table tennis player. This shoe salesman gig is just a stepping stone, a way to make enough money to enter and travel to international tournaments. Like previous Safdie protagonists, Marty is a hustler and a schemer, irresistible even when he’s, to say the least, inconsiderate. He takes advantage of everyone he possibly can, and he freely gives out “I love you”s to everyone he knows. Like most Safdie protagonists, he’s redeemed by the affection and protectiveness he shows his loved ones. Unlike Connie Nikas and Howard Ratner, though, he shows them cruelty in near-equal measure. Marty Mauser is intensely likable; what he isn’t is nice.