MARTY SUPREME

Marty Supreme fits into the milieu of pop-culture anxieties of contemporary America, being a great 'American Film' made for a lesser age and time, filtered through the lens of American Jewish identity and the tussle between individualism and assimilation.

Marty Supreme, in many ways, feels like a spiritual successor to Uncut Gems, with its exploration of the American Jewish identity and being about the cultivation of greatness within a hyper capitalist world.

Marty Supreme is, in many ways, a disorienting piece of work. It's a '50s film that evokes the 80s with its synth score and pop needle drops while neatly fitting into the broader milieu of the 2020s with our protagonist being a victim of capitalist forces that seek to commodify him.

This approach works for several reasons; it creates a sense of irony, evoking the postwar America and its naive optimism, and juxtaposing with the future events that America will face in its later decades that would shatter its naive optimism as the world's only superpower.

Hence, it's not a surprise that the film evokes the 80s and the 2020s, as both decades would be defined by their incessant desire to look back on the 1950s as America's golden age under Reagan and Trump's administrations (Note: MAGA).

So, in many ways, the ghosts of America's future hover on the past and vice versa in a recursive manner, hence it's an intentional choice to begin the spiral of Marty(Timothee Chalamet) by his defeat at the hands of a player of the Axis Powers, prefiguring America's paranoia about Japan's rise in the 80's.

Hence, Marty represents the naive spirit of America, constantly living his life without any sense of the consequences, and living without any tomorrow, bringing a commentary on his overindulgent individualism and selfish nature.

However, Marty Supreme, in many ways, is about the consequences coming back to haunt Marty with clockwork precision, with the chickens coming home to roost. It's a high-wire magic act that is well executed by Marty Supreme's story structure, coming off as a spiritual success to Uncut Gems.

Marty Supreme posits an interesting question about the futility of individuals trying to achieve something worthwhile within a capitalist system seeking to commodify them as a packaged product. Hence, the hollow meaninglessness embodied here feels perfectly calibrated to the moment.

Marty Supreme, in many ways, is about conning your way to reach the 1% or success and creating the myth of greatness through meritocracy. Hence, the ping pong ball mediates on this idea as it's a force that zigs and zags in a haphazard manner, but is rendered meaningless.

However, it's revealing that it's a coming-of-age mythic story for Marty, who leaves the successful yet meaningless world he's fetishized and grows into a responsible parent, accepting the consequences of his actions and seeking a heteronormative life.

Hence, Marty Supreme, through the prism of its focus on Jewish identity, stresses the self-destructive nature of the protagonists to reach the top inside a corrupt system, and the actions that lead to it. It's a clever subversion that treads on similar ground as The Smashing Machine.

Overall, Marty Supreme is a wonderful and dynamic piece of work that rests on the chaotic frenzy tone of its narrative with its propulsive sound design and synth score. It's an American fable made for a lesser American moment and time.

Writing: 10/10

Direction: 9/10

Cinematography: 9/10

Acting: 10/10

Editing: 9/10

Sound: 10/10

Score: 10/10

Prod Design: 9/10

Casting: 10/10

Effects: 7/10

Overall Score: 9.3/10