43rd TFF – pure emotion: Marty Supreme by Josh Safdie in its world premiere

Review by Clara Bruno – December 1, 2025

Reading time: 5 minutes

Film seen at TFF – Cinema Massimo on November 26, 2025

Marty Supreme by Josh Safdie (USA, 2025)

duration 2h30' Surprise world premiere at the 43rd Torino Film Festival Great Emotions at the 43rd TFF!

After the meeting and conversations with Spike Lee himself and the premiere of his new, stunning film Highest2Lowest – which I discuss in another article – the audience and critics at the 43rd Torino Film Festival witnessed a truly special event: on Wednesday, November 26, the sixth day of the festival, the screening of a secret surprise film was announced.

Just like at the New York Film Festival on October 6, the secret title turned out to be the highly anticipated film Marty Supreme by Josh Safdie. At the 43rd TFF, we were thus the second audience in the world to see this film, in its second-ever world screening. There were about 450 of us in attendance. A privilege made possible by the wonderful Italian distributor I Wonder, based in Bologna, which brings some of the most original and innovative contemporary cinema to Italian theaters. Experiencing the world premiere of such a highly awaited film was pure emotion.

Marty Supreme is a work with a relentless pace and marks a new milestone in Timothée Chalamet’s career. Set in the 1950s, Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, a young table tennis talent determined to win an international title in Japan, just after the end of World War II, while tensions between the two nations are still palpable.

The story is loosely inspired by ping-pong champion Marty Reisman, at a time when table tennis was not yet considered a legitimate sport in the United States. However, the plot is entirely dramatized and differs from the real life of the athlete who inspired it.

In this role, I saw the most intense and complete performance of Timothée Chalamet’s career. His acting style is unique and extraordinary: Chalamet fully transforms into every character he portrays. It seems highly likely that Timothée Chalamet will be nominated for an Oscar for this truly remarkable performance.

Directed by Josh Safdie, this is his first solo feature after successes made with his younger brother Benny Safdie, seven films including Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019). With Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie builds a sports narrative fueled by the feverish energy and controlled chaos characteristic of his cinema.

The story follows Marty’s obsessive race toward glory, told with a vitality that sweeps the viewer along from the first to the last frame.

Chalamet brings to life a hyperactive, arrogant, and magnetic protagonist, fully immersing himself emotionally and physically. His portrayal of Marty Mauser is a performance of rare power, capable of sustaining the entire dramatic structure of the film on its own.

The official synopsis describes Marty as “a young man with a dream no one respects”, he is willing to do anything to prove his worth. The film depicts this ambition in a frenzied odyssey that alternates tension, humour, and moments of lyricism. Marty Mauser is a young prodigy, both unbearable and astonishing, who lands in one trouble after another, blind to everything except his goal, with a reckless and bewildering drive and nonchalance.

Supporting him is Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays Kay, a former actress and high-society wife alongside a powerful ballpoint pen industrialist. Accustomed to luxury and performance, she views the world with detachment. Her encounter with Marty cracks her polished perfection, revealing fissures beneath her constructed sophistication. Other cast members include the talented Odessa A’Zion as Marty’s girlfriend, Kevin O’Leary, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher, and many more, forming an ensemble that enriches the unpredictable narrative.

The soundtrack of Marty Supreme is very interesting: it is deliberately anachronistic in relation to the story, which is in fact set in the 1950s. This choice gives even more energy to the unfolding of the action.

It features a mix of New Wave/Post-Punk hits from the 1980s, some of which are very accessible pop tracks, alongside more recent global successes such as The Weeknd. You can listen to the full track list on Spotify. This track list “travels” through the film alongside an original, synth-rich score composed by Daniel Lopatin, a capo North-American musician, electronic music producer, composer, singer and songwriter, who has created the music for several of the Safdie brothers’ films. His work experiments with a wide range of genres and musical eras, and is characterised by the use of sample-based composition and complex MIDI production.

Here is a more or less complete list of the pop songs featured in the film: Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Tears For Fears

Forever Young, Alphaville

I Have The Touch, Peter Gabriel

The Order Of Death, P.I.L. Public Image Ltd.

American Pie, L’Tric Remix, Don McLean, L’Tric

The Perfect Kiss, 2025 remaster, New Order

Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime, The Corgis

You Make My Dreams Come True, Daryl Hall &  John Oates

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell

Nature Boys - Surf Version, Nuno Freitas

I Want To Break Free, Queen

God Only Knows, The Beach Boys

Perfect Day, Lou Reed

Dream Big, Bob Vylan duo

Veridis Quo, Daft Punk

American Pie, Don McLean

I Feel It Coming, The Weeknd, Daft Punk

Cool Kids - Sped Up, Echosmith, sped up + nightcore, Nightcore

One Way Or Another, Blondie

Pumped Up Kicks, Foster The People

All I Wanna Do, Nuno Freitas

September, Earth, Wind & Fire

Dreaming, Blondie

Dream On, Aerosmith

The Phoenix, Fall Out Boy

This Christmas, Donny Hathaway

At the New York Film Festival screening, the audience rose to their feet in a long ovation, confirming the emotional impact of the work.

At the Turin screening, the excitement was immense, and I can say I even shared the theatre with the brilliant director Terry Gilliam, a TFF guest who, naturally, did not miss this extremely rare première.

Produced by the U.S. company A24, the film is one of the most ambitious and expensive projects ever undertaken by the production house, known for high-artistic-value cinema. Marty Supreme is also co-produced by Timothée Chalamet, who previously co-produced Luca Guadagnino’s beautiful Bones and All (2022) and James Mangold’s effective Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (2024).

The U.S., Canadian, and U.K. theatrical release is scheduled for December 25, 2025, while in various Latin American countries it will arrive on January 1. In Europe, the film will debut in Italy on January 22, 2026, thanks to I Wonder, while Spain, France, Germany, and Scandinavian countries will welcome it during February 2026.

The Cinema Massimo Uno venue, 450 seats, before the special screening: look at how many seats were reserved for the staff of the distribution company I Wonder, who were expected for the world premiere event!

The orange ping-pong ball from Marty Supreme, “Dream Big”, is the promotional item I managed to get my hands on.