Summary of Martyr Supreme

Overview of Martyr Supreme (Red Scare)

This episode of Red Scare opens their first show of the year with a long, wide-ranging conversation that centers on Josh Safdie’s new film Martyr Supreme (referred to in the episode as Marty/Marty Supreme) and then pivots into political-cultural topics — most notably the recent ICE shooting in Minneapolis. The hosts mix a close film critique (style, performances, themes, set pieces) with broader reflections on Jewish identity, auteurism, cinema history and contemporary political spectacle. The tone is conversational, often irreverent, and frequently polemical.

Film review — what they discussed

• Film basics and expectations

  • Josh (Safdie) is praised as a challenging, detail-oriented filmmaker who crafts high-anxiety, crowd-pleasing cinema (they compare Marty to Uncut Gems and Good Time).
  • The film is long (~2.5 hours) but the hosts say it doesn’t drag; it sustains a high-octane, cortisol-spiking atmosphere.
  • Noted as A24’s largest/most commercially successful production for the company (big budget referenced ~$70M).

• Performances & casting

  • Timothée Chalamet plays the protagonist (Marty) — hosts call his performance “good” but somewhat one-note and not as funny as the role aims to be.
  • Gwyneth Paltrow (Kay), Odessa A'zion, Sandra Bernhard and Fran Drescher appear in supporting roles. Kevin O’Leary is singled out positively as “Milton Rockwell.”
  • Some surprise that the female characters are underwritten; several hosts wish Safdie would make a film centered on a woman.

• Key scenes and motifs

  • Two pivotal emotional beats: Marty impregnating Rachel in a shoe-store storeroom, and Marty’s breakdown when he meets his newborn in the hospital.
  • Final match vs. the Japanese opponent (Endo) is highlighted as the film’s most affecting, humanizing scene.
  • Recurring motifs: gambling/hustling, hustler’s hubris, the “ordeal of civility” (family vs. ambition), Jewish cultural signifiers, and performative assimilation.
  • A controversial Holocaust-affiliated flashback (Bella’s story and the honey/hive scene) is discussed for its shock value, comic-ironies and generational contrast.

• Style, music, marketing

  • The Safdie “house style”: micromontage close-ups, urgency, rapid editing, and intense, nervy sound design — sometimes read as a shortcut for emotional effect.
  • Anachronistic pop song choices (examples: “Forever Young,” “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”) are seen as intentional but occasionally gimmicky.
  • Viral marketing and the film-as-event nature make it hard to critique without being accused of ingratitude; hosts feel the hype may be excessive.

• Thematic interpretation

  • The film is read as a meditation on assimilation and performance: Marty’s hustle is framed as an attempt to “become” America’s idea of success, even as it implicates Jewish stereotypes and tensions with the older generation.
  • Comparison to Uncut Gems: similar territory (gambling/hubris) but the moral outcome is inverted — Marty’s path leads to ambiguous reward rather than clear collapse.
  • Discussion of self-aware, self-deprecating Jewish humor and how the film deliberately courts being “uncool” rather than trendy edgelord cred.

Cultural notes and comparisons

• Directors/films compared: Josh Safdie vs. Benny Safdie / Good Time / Uncut Gems; mentions of Woody Allen (women-focused storytelling), Spielberg, Kubrick, Polanski, Ari Aster and Denzel Washington films for tonal/contextual contrasts.
• The Safdies are positioned as filmmakers who blend scrappy roots with slicker later-stage productions; hosts debate whether Josh will ever “transcend” the Jewish/New York milieu in his work.
• The episode also riffs on film-era details (period-piece pleasures), casting choices as stunt-casting or meta-casting, and how marketing/Internet memetics change how films function.

Notable quotes (from the episode)

• “He’s amazingly smart and talented. Challenging.” (on Josh Safdie)
• “These are movies that spike your cortisol.” (on Safdie style)
• “The movie is decidedly uncool.” (appreciation for its lack of hipster posturing)
• “Martyr Supreme is by far the most anti‑Semitic movie I’ve ever seen — and of course it was made by a Jew so it’s okay.” (an intentionally provocative host remark about the film’s self-conscious Jewish provocation)
• Quoted review line they discussed: “Marty Supreme is not a genre film… driven by a maniacal supernatural drive to entertain.”

Main takeaways (concise)

• Martyr Supreme is a high‑energy, Safdie‑style crowd pleaser: potent atmosphere, nervy editing, and strong set pieces.
• Timothée Chalamet anchors the film well but his performance can feel rhythmically limited; women remain less fully drawn.
• The film self-consciously mines Jewish identity, hustle culture and assimilation — it’s loving, mocking, ironic and sometimes discomforting in equal parts.
• Commercially and culturally, it’s a cinema event: critics and audiences are polarized between genuine admiration and suspicion of hype/gimmickry.
• If you liked Uncut Gems, you’ll likely find much to admire; expect big production scale, artful manipulations, and ethical ambiguity.

The ICE shooting / politics segment — summary of their position

• The episode shifts to the Minneapolis ICE shooting (the host refers to the victim as Renee Nicole Good) and the controversy over released footage.
• Points discussed:
  • Footage remains ambiguous; people rush to definitive judgments online but video doesn’t conclusively settle motive/intent.
  • Legal/technical argument: using a vehicle as a weapon authorizes lethal force in many policing doctrines; that framing is used by some hosts to explain the officer’s response.
  • Ethical/tragedy frame: even if technically justified, the shooting is tragic; both the agent and the victim are seen as products of systemic failures.
  • Political polarization: the episode criticizes both sides — the left’s performative activism and refusal to accept limits of protest, and the right’s gleeful “she deserved it” responses. Hosts call out hypocrisy and mediapoint scoring on both sides.
  • Mental health and context: the hosts characterize the victim as troubled, possibly radicalized/organized, and emphasize how social media and activist culture can encourage risk-taking behavior that ends badly.
  • Practical note: policing against vehicle-as-weapon threats is fraught; optics matter, training and mission creep (ICE doing crowd-mitigation) are real problems.

Final judgments & recommendations

• Film: Recommended if you appreciate:
  • Safdie’s aesthetics (intensity, close‑up choreography, anxiety-driven pacing).
  • Films about hustlers, assimilation and morally ambiguous protagonists.
  • Period flavor, dense texture, and strong production design — but go in ready for explicit dark humor, Jewish cultural signifiers and mixed moral outcomes.
• Viewer caveats:
  • Expect hype and viral marketing; form your own opinion rather than relying only on consensus.
  • Be prepared for some underwritten female roles and heavy-handed irony.
• Politics: Treat video evidence cautiously; avoid instantaneous moral certainty online. Acknowledge tragedy, systemic failure and complexity. The episode urges nuance over performative outrage.

Quick "what to watch" suggestions they name-checked

• Martyr Supreme (the film under review) — see for Safdie-style filmmaking and Chalamet’s turn.
• Uncut Gems, Good Time — for Safdie comparisons.
• Devil in a Blue Dress (Denzel) — invoked as a benchmark for steamy sex scenes and noir tone.
• 28 Years Later / 28 Days Later — mentioned for their relevance to social-media zombie metaphors and viscerally scary filmmaking.

If you want the episode’s tone: it’s equal parts cinephile close-reading and political rant — often irreverent, sometimes provocative, with an insistence on complexity rather than simple moral narratives.