The 2025 film Marty Supreme, directed by American filmmaker Josh Safdie, screened at the Arasbaran Cultural Center in Tehran on Sunday. After the screening, Iranian film critic Kourosh Jahed led a discussion about the movie. Set in 1950s New York, Marty Supreme follows Marty Mauser, played by Timothée Chalamet, a talented but reckless table tennis player inspired by real-life athlete Marty Reisman. The film mixes humor, ambition, and moral challenges as it tracks Marty’s chaotic rise to fame. The cast also includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara, and Fran Drescher.
Marty works in his uncle Murray’s Manhattan shoe shop while competing professionally in table tennis. Frustrated that the sport is not popular in the U.S., he dreams of winning the British Open and defeating champion Béla Kletzki. He also starts a small business selling orange ping-pong balls with his name on them. Marty needs $700 to travel to London. When his uncle refuses to lend him money, Marty robs the shop’s vault. In London, he checks into a luxury hotel instead of staying with the other players. Marty beats Kletzki in the semifinals but loses the final to Koto Endo, a deaf Japanese player who uses a new sponge racket.
Businessman Rockwell offers Marty a Tokyo exhibition match on the condition that he throws it. Marty refuses, angry at being treated as a novelty act. Back in New York, Marty is arrested for theft but escapes. He struggles to pay a $1,500 fine from the International Table Tennis Association. Marty hides in a run-down hotel and faces several challenges, including hustling in bowling alleys and losing a mobster’s dog. Rockwell returns to support Marty’s friend Kay and her acting career. Marty apologizes for stealing from her, and she helps him pay the fine.
Eventually, Marty accepts Rockwell’s Tokyo offer, enduring public humiliation. In Tokyo, he exposes the match-fixing and wins a fair rematch against Endo. The movie ends with Marty returning home, reconciled with his mother and ready for a new chapter. The screening and discussion at Arasbaran Cultural Center highlighted the film’s blend of drama and comedy. Critics praised Chalamet’s performance and the story’s mix of ambition and personal struggle.