The ultimate paean to Jewish striving. I'm still kind of coming down from the madcap high of Marty Supreme. A Bernard Malamud novel's worth of characters refracted through tropes of the heist, the sports, and
coming of age films -- sped up at 78 RPM.
Marty Supreme puts the attraction and danger and seduction of the American dream at its center along with its benefits and soul crushing defeats.
In age of rising anti-semitism, to put our very specific culture and struggle at the center of that American dream -- and show its limitations might actually be brave filmmaking. It's extremely exciting however you cut it.
The dream is a myth is real is a dream is a myth is real... In the end, all you have are the people who love you.
I went into this expecting a standard sports biopic, but Chalamet’s performance completely floored me. He sheds all that usual charm to play someone so toxic and abrasive—it’s honestly magnetic. Even though the screenplay spins its wheels a bit in the middle, his sheer intensity carries the whole film. I wrote about why this might be his career-best work here: https://amnesicreviews.substack.com/p/marty-supreme-the-hustle-is-harder