While Benny Safdie and Dwayne Johnson got knocked out at the box office with Oscar hopeful The Smashing Machine, brother Josh is hitting the table with his Timothée Chalame-starring Marty Supreme. Ahead of its winter, awards-friendly December release, the film has screened at the New York Film Festival. So how did it fare? Let’s have a look!
For a while there – and a lot of this had to do with having not been screened yet – Marty Supreme was feeling like a dark horse in the Oscar race, but it looks as if Chalamet is still very much in talks for a Best Actor nomination (this would be his third, a hell of an achievement for someone under 30). He may have been one to watch out for for quite some time as far as that goes, but with this level of praise fresh out of its premiere, it could get him out of the gate in spectacular fashion. Of note, Josh Safdie said that he had just finished the film not that long before the film’s debut, making this a truly surprise screening for pretty much everyone involved, attendee or not.
Unlike The Smashing Machine, Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme is far less of a biopic, although it does take a lot of inspiration from the life and story of Marty Reisman, a legend of the ping pong/table tennis scene if there ever was one. Reisman, who died back in 2012, was a champ across numerous decades, placing third at the 1948 World Table Tennis Championships, medaling in doubles at the 1952 competition and more; his greatest accomplishment in the later part of his career came in 1997, winning at the U.S. National Hardbat Championship when he was in his 60s. Reisman would go on to write the essential book of the table tennis world The Money Player, The Confessions of America’s Greatest Table Tennis Player and Hustler.
Marty Supreme, which marks Josh Safdie’s first solo directorial outing since 2008, hits theaters on December 25th.
What do you think of the first reactions to Marty Supreme? How do you think it will fare at the box office and during awards season? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below!
