One of the great pleasures of the New York Film Festival is the annual surprise screening.
It’s supposed to be a well kept secret but by the time we got to Alice Tully Hall tonight even the hot dog vendors outside knew what was going on.
The film was Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” starring Timothee Chalamet, the IT guy of the movie world, with an eclectic cast including Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler the Creator, Fran Drescher (such a pleasure), and introducing a knockout in Odessa A’zion.
Safdie told the sold out audience he’d finished the film at 2am to make this screening since the release isn’t until December. But producers wanted to generate some Oscar buzz now, and they succeeded. Even though “Marty Supreme” is not quite done — Safdie told us backstage there was some tweaking to come, especially in the sound — it’s already better than most things you’ll see this season.
I can’t really write a full review until the film is completed. Suffice to say, the filmmaking here is sensational, not unlike Safdie’s “Uncut Gems” but on a higher level. The writing is kind of off the wall great — glib, bonkers, and spontaneous sounding although I’m sure it’s right from the page.
Chalamet is 29 years old. He’ll have his Oscar nomination after he turns 30 in December, and quite possibly a win as Marty Mauser, a semi professional table tennis player (ping pong, but like Olympic) who’s broke, down on his luck, incredibly self confident, a self made Damon Runyon-esque Lower East Side kid who works in his uncle’s shoe store and is constantly working the angles.
Before I saw it, I kept calling “Marty Supreme” a ‘ping pong’ movie. It’s not. Marty is the actual ping pong ball, being slammed out of his own control by heavy duty players. The film is funny and sad, a little violent, and very much in the tone of “Anora,” Sean Baker’s Oscar winner from this past year.
You could tell this screening was a big deal. Chalamet and the cast were there, and appeared on stage afterwards to a standing ovation. I spotted director Doug Liman and screenwriter Larry Karaszewski in the audience, along with spies galore who write and blog about the Oscars.
What did they glean from this experience? “One Battle After Another” has a worthy opponent in the awards race, along with “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” and my favorite gem of a film, “Blue Moon.” There will be others, but “Marty Supreme” ups the ante on what’s turning out to be a very good year.
One last thing: this is the kind of movie an Oscar for casting was needed. In a very rich production (rich meaning textured not financial), Safdie observes dozens of wizened faces in Marty’s ramshackle world.
