TEHRAN- “Marty Supreme”, a 2025 movie by American filmmaker Josh Safdie, went on screen at the Arasbaran Cultural Center in Tehran on Sunday. 

The film screening was followed by a review session attended by Iranian critic Kourosh Jahed.

Set against the vibrant and gritty backdrop of 1950s New York, “Marty Supreme” stars Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser, a gifted but reckless table tennis player loosely inspired by the real-life figure Marty Reisman. Blending humor, ambition, and moral conflict, the story traces Marty’s chaotic pursuit of international glory. The supporting cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara, and Fran Drescher.

In 1952, Marty works as a shoe salesman in his uncle Murray’s Manhattan shop while competing professionally in table tennis. Frustrated by the sport’s lack of prestige in America, he dreams of winning the British Open and defeating reigning champion Béla Kletzki to capture national attention. Marty also hatches a side venture: selling novelty orange ping-pong balls emblazoned with his name, pitching the idea to his friend Dion and Dion’s businessman father. 

Desperate for $700 to fund his trip to London, Marty asks Murray for help. When his uncle refuses—worried about Marty’s stability and his mother’s well-being—Marty resorts to crime, robbing the shop’s vault at gunpoint after hours. In London, he shuns the modest players’ barracks and checks into the Ritz Hotel. Marty defeats Kletzki in the semifinals but loses the championship match to Koto Endo, a deaf Japanese player who uses a revolutionary sponge racket. Rockwell offers Marty a lucrative exhibition match against Endo in Tokyo before the World Championships—on the condition that he throw the match to please Japanese audiences. Marty refuses, insulted, only to be reminded that he is already treated as a novelty act touring with Kletzki.

Back in New York, Marty is arrested for stealing from Murray but manages to escape custody. Soon after, he learns he has been banned from the World Championship until he pays a $1,500 fine to the International Table Tennis Association for falsely expensing his Ritz stay. Reduced to hiding out in a decrepit hotel with his taxi-driver friend Wally, Marty scrambles for cash. After a series of misadventures—including hustling bowlers in New Jersey, fleeing a violent confrontation, and accidentally losing a mobster’s dog—his situation spirals further out of control.

Rockwell resurfaces in New York, financing a play to revive Kay’s career. Marty briefly reconnects with her but continues his pattern of theft and deception. 

At the premiere of Kay’s play, Marty apologizes for stealing from her. Though she sees through him, Kay gives him a valuable necklace to cover his fine. When the police catch them together in Central Park, they bribe their way out. After Kay’s play receives a harsh review and she withdraws in despair, Marty swallows his pride and accepts Rockwell’s Tokyo offer—agreeing even to a humiliating public spanking as part of the deal.

Arriving too late to officially reenter the World Championship, Marty competes in the rigged exhibition match and loses as planned. But when Rockwell attempts to further humiliate him publicly, Marty exposes the fix and demands a legitimate rematch. Endo agrees, and Marty narrowly wins. Abandoned by Rockwell, he returns home with U.S. Army soldiers, and reconciles with his mother.

SAB/