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“Marty Supreme”: Ambition, Sweat, and Wonderful Cinema

Published February 18, 2026, 14:17
“Marty Supreme”: Ambition, Sweat, and Wonderful Cinema

Josh Safdie's “Marty Supreme” wins over critics and audiences with the way it transforms a seemingly simple subject – a young man dreaming of becoming the best ping pong player – into a captivating and moving cinematic work. The film has achieved tremendous commercial success, surpassing the box office receipts of A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. Timothée Chalamet delivers a bold and physical performance as Marty Mauser, embodying with nervousness and intensity a character who is both vulnerable and arrogant. His performance has received positive reviews and highlights his talent. Safdie's screenplay is stormy and rhythmic, with 1952 New York functioning as a psychological space that intensifies the sense of pressure and obsession. The cinematography of ping pong turns every match into an existential clash. The film is characterized as a cinema of obsession, characters and rhythm, a coming-of-age epic that does not seek to be easy or reassuring, but to remain alive, uncomfortable and passionate. It is screening at the Pantheon cinema on February 18, 24 and 25.