Marty Supreme fails to live up to its hype this award season.
One of the most anticipated movies heading into the Academy Awards last month was Marty Supreme, directed by Josh Safdie and starring Timothée Chalamet as the titular Marty Mauser. The film follows Mauser in his attempt to gain infamy in the surprisingly turbulent world of 1950s table tennis, and in the process, catapult the sport into the public consciousness. Making over $870,000 its opening weekend while debuting in only six theatres, it became the largest per-screen-average of all time for arthouse studio A24, according to Variety, at $145,933 per theatre. Given this success, as well as the excitement generated from its release, many suspected the movie would be one of the bigger winners at this year’s Oscars. Yet despite this, the film went an astonishing 0 for 9 in the categories it was nominated in. Subsequently leading many to conclude that the lack of Oscar wins for Marty Supreme was the result of Chalamet’s controversial comments made during his Oscars campaign. And while some decisions made during the campaign may have contributed to this, Chalamet’s comments were unlikely to have influenced the voting process.
The film itself was a fun watch, though, not particularly incredible or significant to me. I ended up seeing the movie with two groups of friends when it was in theatres, and again in the preparation for writing this article. It had a lot of pretty enjoyable elements, although definitely not worth seeing three times.
One of the characteristics of the film I specifically found interesting was the casting. Tyler Okonma (Tyler, The Creator) was surprisingly compelling as Wally, Mauser’s taxi driver friend, with the duo’s attempts to pull table tennis scams being some of the highlights of the film. I wish we got to see more of the character considering Okonma doesn’t star in many movies, this being one of three he’s appeared in. Kevin O’Leary, unfortunately, also puts in a great performance throughout the film as Milton Rockwell, owner of the pen brand Rockwell Ink. Stealing whatever scene he’s in, O’Learly doesn’t really seem to be acting much when he’s playing an asshole businessman.
The film felt somewhat claustrophobic at times. Being directed by the same person who made Uncut Gems, it does a good job at being able to stretch the anticipation and possible dread of what might be about to happen. And although having a runtime of 2-and-a-half hours, the movie feels slightly shorter when you’re wondering if Mauser will face any real consequences in the next scene.
Despite this, the film has one or two too many of Mauser’s sidequests that still make it seem slightly longer than it should. These sidequests can, at times, take screentime away from some of the more interesting elements and dampen the anticipation.
On its own merits, Marty Supreme is a movie that feels like it should have had a place at the Academy Awards, even if it wasn’t particularly incredible.
Yet, its lack of wins made many determine that it was due to Chalamet’s dismissive comments towards ballet and opera the film didn’t receive any awards at the Oscars. This speculation, however, is unfounded. The voting process had mostly closed by the time Chalamet made those comments, according to the Guardian. With those comments being made on February 26 and the final vote ending on March 5, it is unlikely that it had a significant effect on the voting process.
Even if those specific comments most likely didn’t contribute to the movie’s 0 for 9 at the Oscars, Chalamet’s general attitude during the campaign may have played a larger role. The actor seemingly took a self-assured and somewhat arrogant approach during the press tour. And although this may have been an attempt to stand out and seem confident, it also may have soured the opinion of some of the voters.
In general, Marty Supreme is a pretty enjoyable movie that, in other circumstances, may have been more firmly set to win at this year’s Academy Awards. And though much of the speculation around why that wasn’t the case is unlikely, there were definitely better decisions that could’ve been made.
