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1. Lisa Trivell 02.24.26 / 11am

   I agree that the film is a drama and a character study.I agree that the cinematography is wonderful and carries the plot very successfully. Also agree that Chalamet gave a very believable performance of the character Marty Supreme.
   I thought the character Supreme was a strong determined person.He was very extreme but totally focused on the game and achieving excellence.I believe the film showed his sensitivity in the end.
2. Yago Tolfo 02.24.26 / 7pm

   I’ve seen this movie, and it’s truly amazing. It follows a young man named Paul who must lead a giant army in the desert and the sandstorms and the giant worms look so real that it is a bit scary.
3. Walt Gu 02.25.26 / 10pm

   I really enjoyed how your review captures the film’s crazy Safdie energy while also explaining that it’s more of a character driven than a normal sports drama. I also like your details about the film ‘stock look’, Khondji’s cinematography, and the bold colors, which made the 1950s world feel vivid.
4. Ella Petrunia 02.28.26 / 11pm

   I also watched Marty Supreme, and I thought it was a great film. I loved its fast-paced and chaotic feel, making it impossible not to be invested in the story. I agree with you that the film doesn’t necessarily feel like a sports drama, but rather focuses on Marty’s character, and I think that’s what makes it so great.
5. Alexis Renteria 02.28.26 / 11pm

   I found you review very insightful, especially what you said about the film feeling less like a sports film and more like that of a character study. I feel that captures the films core.
6. Oliver Scrivner 03.14.26 / 10pm

   Your review was very good, and I agree strongly that it broadens the horizons of what a “sports drama” could be, if it even could be called that. The film seems to be much more focused on the drive, struggle, and arrogance that is rooted within Marty’s character, rather than his drive and struggle in table tennis. It felt very similar to other Safdie films with unlikable but lovable characters that just keep making the wrong choices, both Good Time and Uncut Gems, as well as keeping up with the fast paced, sporadic events that take place in all three films.
7. Alexis Zarco Ramirez 03.16.26 / 7pm

   Your review explains well how Marty Supreme is more than just a typical sports movie. I liked how you focused on Marty’s ambition and how far he is willing to go to escape poverty and become famous. This connects to the ideas talked in many film studies classes about how films often show/criticize the darker side of the “American Dream” of the 1950s. I also thought your point about the cinematography and the choice to shoot on film stock was interesting because it helps create the 1950s setting and makes the world of the film feel more real and authentic.
8. Sebastian Christou 03.20.26 / 3pm

   Kara, you are a great writer, great pace to the review and your descriptors (‘brittle glamour’) are so good. One little issue up front, it’s Marty Mauser, not Bauser (but your editor would have caught that). I found the film so intense, as you addressed, with the character ruthless self promotion and narcissism, and whiplash ping pong battles – and I enjoyed the ride, as you did. I might not place as much emphasis on Marty wanted to tie out of poverty, I felt he didn’t sweat that. He’s a competent hust when we meet. The ending was very confusing to me, and those I attended the film with. I thought we saw in Marty’s tears looking at his son, some realization of what is important and some regret for how he has lived. A thought the director suggests a new chapter. The women I was with felt much more cynical. Marty is who he is. There is no innocence or sincerity he won’t bulldoze and destroy for personal gain. Complicated ending. Your comments about then color palette and editing serving his unyielding quest were spot on.
9. Alejandro Marin 03.20.26 / 9pm

   I was able to watch Marty supreme and I really enjoyed it. I will say that I agree with what you said on how this film felt more like a character study than a sports movie. One of the main things that stood out to me during this film was the fact that it was really chaotic. It reminded me a lot of Uncut Gems because of how intense and stressful the film is and how the character kept making bad decisions. I agree with you on how the cinematography makes the film.
10. Brooklyn Wilk 03.20.26 / 11pm

    I agree with you that this movie is hard to categorize as a traditional sports drama film. The story consists of Marty’s struggles with poverty and that is his motivation to be great and climb the social ladder. In my film class, we have focused a lot on the topic of mis-en-scene and how that can affect a movie. In this film, the setting, costumes, and mood greatly affect how the movie is portrayed by the audience. You mentioned some of the environments used in the film like the pool halls and tenements. These settings represent Marty’s internal struggle of wanting to be better and have better. The use of moody lighting in this film adds to the intense and chaotic feeling. The use of costumes in this film help keep the setting consistent with the traditional 1950’s look.
11. Christine Hart 03.23.26 / 7pm

    Marty Surpreme
    Finland and United States

    Josh Safdie’s Marty Surpreme is a high energy, propelling character analysis that fuses the dieectors quality, it is an anxiety driven sports film with a backbone. Set between Finland and the United States, the film follows Marty Mauser (Timothy Chalamet) as he claws his way to the top through the strange obsessive subculture of competitive ping-pong ball. Safdie doed not treat the sport like a quirky gimmick, rather as a pressure cooker. it is an arena where ambition, insecurity and delusion collide at lightning fast speeds.
    Chamlamet gives one of his most physically committed performances, switching betweena rough charm and a painful desperation. Safdie places Marty in a worls that feels intensified and uncontrollably familiar, with cramped training rooms, Flourecently lit supermarkets, and cold echoing hallways of the Nordic sports centers. The film’s Finland=United States duality becomes a metaphore for Marty’s fractured identity, he’s a dreamer, a runaway, and always running towards a version of himself he cannot catch.
    Safdie’s in full command stylistically, The camera darts, swerves, and ricochets like a ping-pong ball, to keep up with Marty’s character, creating a rhythm that mirrors Marty’s chaotic mental state. The sound design is insistent with craking paddles, squeaky sneakers, catching breaths, until the film enters a rarely heard quiet moment that surprisingly catches you off guard.
    Marty Surpreme stands out because of its sincerity. Bemeath all the chaos lies a story about the loneliness, and passion of chasing a dream, with the intensity to burn through every relationship in its path. Safdie treats Marty’s ambition with the respect it deserves, resulting in a film that is an exhilarating sports oddyssey that doubles as a portrait of self inflicted wounds.
    It is strangely moving, messy, and electric, but mostly unhinged.
12. Mariah Bernal 03.26.26 / 12am

    I had the pleasure of watching Marty Supreme and I do agree it is a great thrill to watch although it did have many emotional scenes. The emotion in this movie was pure and raw, Marty faces many struggles in his life but like you said, continues to burn his bridges with those who care most about him. He continues to put his ambitions and aspirations as priority without any backup plan which leads to a huge high only for him to have a hard fall. There was definitely a huge impact through screen writing within this film, it most definitely wasn’t a sports film but an emotionally charged film.
13. Jon DeMattei 03.26.26 / 10pm

    I liked how your review points out that Marty Supreme isn’t really a traditional sports movie, because I had that same feeling watching it. It feels more like a character study about identity and dreaming big, not just a film about ping pong. That connects to what we’ve been learning in my film class about films being a reflection of the culture and time period they’re made in, and how themes and portrayals shift as well. In this case, the theme was social mobility and trying to escape poverty. Being set in the 50s feels important in that way, since that era was so tied to the idea of the American Dream, but the film seems to show a much darker and more cynical side of it. I also thought your point about the cinematography and film stock was interesting. Shooting on actual film instead of digital gives it a rougher texture that really fits the gritty tone of Marty’s world. Absolutely loved it, great film! Never stop dreamin!
14. Miranda Aguilar 03.29.26 / 5pm

    I found Marty Supreme to be more unsettling than entertaining. Though I believe art’s purpose is to make you feel something regardless of its a positive or negative connotation. I had high hopes for this movie going in and I do have to say the movie was absolutely not what I was expecting. I found the spiraling plot to be surprising and ultimately unsatisfying. Though I did appreciate the stylistic choices in the production. Like you said the style felt like a realistic interpretation of the time period.

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