12/27/25 - Marty Supreme (2025) - 7-/10

I read nothing and had only seen the teaser trailer beforehand - that preview was not representative of the film I saw, which caught me completely off guard honestly. Perhaps it’s good that challenged my preconceived notions and opened me up for an internal debate, because I have continued to ponder Timothee’s performance, this role and the thrust of the film since. The draw of the film i s the pull of the character and the performance - he invigorates and materializes a sense of purposeful charismatic excitement. He is formed of & for lying, cheating and stealing, but his persona is one of truth to purpose and integrity for his will. In a sense, that lets the love conquer the hate - the passion over the penance, which raps this all up in a sense of authenticity, at least to the core of the character.

Public Image Ltd.’s “Order of Death” plays loudly in the film -”This is what you want, this is what you get” – which sounds out like an anthem of the petulant perennial pilferer and promoter. It shudders side to side with its mix of brooding 80s synths and a dark gothic foreboding, while retaining its 80s new wave optimism. It’s a fitting ode to permeate this anachronistic clash – fun 80s tunes against the optimistic grit of post-war America, the “take it by any means” Reagannite Gordon Gecko “you deserve what you can take”/”greed is good” paired with the post-war Boomer master of the universe makes for an intriguing and meaningful interplay of sound, words, and meaning - a trope that plays through every odd to raucous needle drop in the film.

What is supreme with this Marty? The unchecked flaunting of babies singular empowering rhetoric - I deserve everything. “Doesn't matter who I step on to get to or what I want in as long as I get to win” mixed with the turning of the age, the post World War II and baby boomer “ample to sample” gluttony and it strikes a weird tone because as it put me off from the jump - it's a glorification. I mean, sure, it's a muddled and messy exaltation, but a glorification nonetheless. He is seeking to be the best and he does not care who the has to fuck over to get that. He is a complete lying, thieving, uncaring American psycho to get his aims. It's not that he doesn't have some comeuppance because that does occur, but even in those moments he saw the sense to his winning. Like when it comes to the final match, where he loses his dream despite conquering - in his win, he loses because his grave had already been dug. But as opposed to Safdie Brothers's other previous works (Good Times or Uncut Gems), where there's a definitive finality to the loss that those characters undergo; they have no real win in the end for their ends are found to not justify their means. Marty though comes through somewhat unscathed. You know he does find a happy ending, despite doing everything the wrong way. Not that everything needs to be a morality play, but are there lessons learned? Does he grow or ever gauge the enormity of his errors?

From that ending you can take away what you will; you make your own addendum to the story of the rest of Marty's life, but one assumes that he he has a woman that cares deeply for him, a child to mold and a chance to live the suburban American dream, despite all that he has maimed, stolen and cheated to get. It’s an empowerment to that frame of mind - an abandonment of morality and empathy that, sone could correlate to our current state of affairs. It's not fair to impose such righteous heft upon a film that does muddle its layout, but I'm reminded of the a message that I saw after the film - someone saying that they had just seen Marty Supreme and they decided to “live Supremely” and had gone into a woman's restroom to try to get a number of someone who he had just met but had left him to use the lavatory. This is obviously the wrong direction to take from this film, but with film literacy at an all time low and a “p*ssy grabber” in the highest office, this twisted edification sits uneasy with what some could glean from this. I don’t know - I don’t care for over-sermonizing or safety in films, but it pulled at my gut reaction. This playing with the moral ambiguity twists up narrative standards and leaves me questioning the film and my own views, which also is a tantalizing and smart stratagem of the filmmakers.

There is a romanticism to the juxtaposition of hustler shitheel vs standard sports movie protagonist tale; something that originally threw me for a loop I think. My moralizing struggle stems from a worry about the lack of media literacy with some and the confabulation of pieces of shit = winning as a morally righteous advertisement. I don’t feel in a place to say one way or the other to this, as I appreciate complicated character and stories that push the medium and bounds of archetypes, so it feels disingenuous to rebel against this bombastic quagmire of hustle, drive, selfishness, and sport purpose - but I must register a lingering and nagging reservation somewhere inside me.

It’s a push pull with Marty – he is a supreme asshole that ruins the lives of all in his wake, but he is setup to be the protagonist to cheer for – you cheer for his success but also his failures – you would like his comeuppance while at the same time hoping slightly that he wins the day. I suppose that is a clever way to set up your film – to play with your audience, their expectations and their desires – like putting salt on their watermelon or perhaps some saccharin on their hot sauce. This ethical sweet’n’spicy made a meal that might have gave me some indigestion, but was tasty and lingered with a desire to eat more.