Josh Safide was considered a shoo-in for winning at least one Oscar for his film MARTY SUPREME until January 26th. Then an article was published in the tabloid rag “Page Six Hollywood” in which writer Tatiana Siegel alleges that the didn’t brothers separate due to “artistic development” but because of an incident on the set of GOOD TIME: In a sex scene, a 17 year old girl was hired who was meant to be naked in front of the camera with amateur actor Buddy Duress. Duress, who was high during the scene, allegedly undressed and asked the actress if he can “put it in.” Josh Sadie didn’t stop the scene. Benny was also in the room. The Safdie’s fondness for odd birds, or rather hiring violent criminals as amateur actors, led to incidents on the set of MARTY SUPREME as well. An actor is said to have threatened Timothée Chalamet.

Well, things are still murky. MARTY SUPREME is now coming to cinemas, with nine Oscar nominations as a promise for quality. The source for all of these accusations are still (15.2.) anonymous, meanwhile the scandal has spread further.

What is certain is that Marty Weisner, the character that Timothée Chalamet plays in MARTY SUPREME, is pretty unpleasant. Both Safdies have filmed sports films after the stress of UNCUT GEMS, the most comfortable and cozy genre in Hollywood cinema. Benny has reproduced the genre quite accurately with its strict framework (initial success, a good woman appears, opportunity, a bad woman appears, defeat, pep talk, effort, effort, pep talk, triumph or moral triumph), except that in his film THE SMASHING MACHINE, the ultimate triumph is the withdrawal from drugs and sports. MARTY SUPREME also includes all the elements of the classic sports film, right up to the ultimate triumph of forming a holy family, but Josh Safdie's film is more chaotic.

There are two women, the good one is the nice Jewish girl from next door in 1952 Brooklyn, Rachel, who Marty secretely has sex with because she is actually engaged to his business partner and friend. (This business partner was supposed to produce the "Marty Supreme" table tennis ball designed by Marty, a more visible orange ball. His affair with Rachel prevented this from happening, even though the idea would have caught on. In the seventies, suddenly all balls became orange and yellow, in table tennis, but also in tennis and soccer). Marty’s sex life leads to all kinds of catastrophes, but the role of the femme fatale is filled by Gwyneth Paltrow as an aging film star and billionaire’s wife Kay, whom Marty flirts with for sex, thereby opening up a new potential source of income.

Marty, a shoe salesman at his uncle’s store, wants to participate in a table tennis tournament and steals the salary his uncle owes him in order to pay for the participation fee. Because Marty doesn’t win, he seeks revenge at the next tournament in Japan, for which he needs to raise even more money. In doing so, he steps on everyone's toes. He tells the press “I’ll finish what Auschwitz didn’t manage to“ about a sports colleague he is actually friends with, and then squirmily adds “I can say that, I’m Jewish.“ He treats his girlfriend Rachel brutally. He betrays his friend. He deserts a mentor. Marty has to suffer the worst sadistic humiliations for this in order to end up where the sports film has to go. Sadism is a leitmotif of the film. Every character is treated cruelly, mostly by Marty. The Safdies create cinematic worlds full of cruelty, through which hustlers, tricksters, con men, and fortune seekers must fight their way.

What is strangest about MARTY SUPREME is the fake happy ending, a classic twist that was invented in the dark noir films and melodramas of the late 30s in order to bypass the censorship of the Hays Code. But the Hays Code was done away with in 1968 and the twist here has a different objective. Whether it’s serious or ironic is the issue. Either Marty really is just a version of the American Dream narrative wherein you can achieve everything if you try hard enough. This would be a lesson that Evangelicals would like to take. One of the Safdies has gone “full MAGA“ now according to sleazy rumors. Or the happy ending could be ironic. Nothing is unthinkable.


Filmically, MARTY SUPREME is convincing, quickly edited, with the Safdie typical hyper neurotic camera which can always pull a quick turn from its vest pocket. Everything is tempo and action, even if the action often ends up leading to nothing or a dead end, like Marty’s table tennis balls. The true purpose of the narrative is another question. Why, for example, is Marty rescued by the US military when he risks everything and jeopardizes his chance to return to the USA?

In an interview with epd film, Josh Safdie said that he makes films about people who have a dream who don’t get respect from anyone, and that’s similar to the independent films that he himself makes. Maybe the identification with the fanatical and inconsiderate Marty goes even further, and maybe the whole Safdie business, which looks so good, is built on dumber foundation than one first suspects. What remains is a storytelling machine running at top speed, churning out mostly old gimmicks.

Maybe MARTY SUPREME is also a film about the humiliating and dehumanizing struggle to achieve something when you’re born without money in the US. Which doesn't even address the question of why one has to achieve this or that. No one has to become the best table tennis player in the world. Incidentally, Timo Boll, actually one of the best table tennis players in the world, makes a cameo appearance.

Perhaps the Safdie film phenomenon is reaching its apex, or perhaps it will end like the rumored Netflix film with Adam Sandler that the Safdies were supposedly working on when the first allegations against them surfaced in a co-producer's divorce case. Perhaps the Safdies are ushering in a new era of the heroic macho film, now that the Tarantino macho era has come to an end.

Tom Dorow (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy