Marty Supreme table tennis film

[JackJohnson]

Theres also this one Ping Pong (2002 Japanese Film) The guy at the top looks kinda like Togami with the hairstyle.

Theres this one called Mixed Doubles (2017 Japanese Film). Mima Ito, Kasumi Ishikawa, Jun Mizutani and Maharu Yoshimura are in this one.

Theres this one called As One (2012 South Korean film). It’s a true story about the unified Korean womens team winning the gold medal at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan.

 

[golden_son]

This is a good one:

Ping Pong: The Triumph (2023) ⭐ 6.4 | Drama

2h 20m

www.imdb.com

I'd never heard of this one until today so on a lark I got a trial subscription for a streaming service I'd also never heard of so I could watch it. It was filled with about as much, er, patriotism as expected of a state-sponsored film and the fact that they used fictional names for the Chinese players but real foreigners was confusing. I can only guess it has to do with laws or taboos around fictional/dramatized accounts of Chinese citizens, e.g. anything untrue could be considered slander. Otherwise it makes zero sense not to celebrate your actual heroes.

They sure made Europeans out to be the big villains, though--except Waldner. If there's one thing Ping Pong: The Triumph taught me, it's that the Chinese respect the sh*t out of Waldner.

The actual gameplay scenes were...cute, if obviously fake to anyone who actually plays. Maybe just good enough to be believable for the average watcher. With Timothée Chalamet's training I hope "Marty" gives us better action.

 

[PhoenixTT]

The actual gameplay scenes were...cute, if obviously fake to anyone who actually plays. Maybe just good enough to be believable for the average watcher. With Timothée Chalamet's training I hope "Marty" gives us better action.

They actually took the effort to have the Western actors mimic the play styles of the Swedish players they were playing (or at least Jorgen Persson's curly hair IIRC). Nevertheless, true it still looks fake. Now we know what real MMA fighters see when they watch action movies.

 

[Gtsnake]

Good to have another table tennis movie, especially with good budget and actors.

Besides Balls of fury (comedy), As One (Korean sports drama) and Ping Pong the animation, is there really any other movie/cartoon about table tennis?

The best TT movie I think is Ping Pong Playa. It was hilarious and the playing scenes were semi decent.

 

[dewnyc]

There's also a Taiwanese movie "Doubles Match", which was the opening film of the 2024 Taipei Film Festival, and is being shown at film festivals (at least in the US). I watched it on an EVA flight to Taipei. Former player Chiang Hung-Chieh (who was married to Ai Fukuhara) plays the role of a coach in it. Lin Yun-Ju and Chen Szu-Yu make a cameo appearance in it.

For a documentary, “Top Spin” is about the quests of 3 American teens (Lily Zhang, Ariel Hsing, Michael Landers) to make the 2012 Olympics, and their back stories.

 

[dewnyc]

According to the internet one of the sportsmen in the film is Vladimir Sebek. He is played by a new actor called Timo Boll!

Indeed he is listed on the credits on IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32916440/fullcredits/
I also see Diego Schaaf listed, who used to film videos of US Open and other tournaments, and recently posted them on YouTube. If I'm not mistaken, his wife Wei Wang trained Chalamet for 6 months or so.
There are 2 players I know from the New York City area who are in it as well.
Do any of you recognize anyone else from the tt world?

 

[SrSTT]

One more movie for the seniors:

Ping Pong 2012 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2117946/​

This is actually a pretty decent documentary. I found myself rooting for and against certain personalities.

 

[rbtitco]

Lol it will do absolutely nothing. Ridiculous take by that reviewer but I like the optimism

It is impossible for tt to be any less significant than it currently is in America. Nowhere to go but up.

 

[suds79]

Even if the TT action isn't all that realistic, as the OP asked, I don't think it matters much. I really don't care.

If it just reminds people of the game or gets people interested in playing TT, then that's a win.

 

[BetterTT]

Even if the TT action isn't all that realistic, as the OP asked, I don't think it matters much. I really don't care.

If it just reminds people of the game or gets people interested in playing TT, then that's a win.

I saw the movie and while it is very unlikely that it will get many people interested in playing TT, it might get a relatively small number of people interested in playing ping pong or beerpong and the bars that have ping pong tables might be a bit busier for a short period of time.

Will it change anything about TT in the USA? Nope...it will remain a small niche sport with a lot of unrealized hypothetical potential.

In other words, don't expect that things like MLTT matches to draw more than a couple of hundred spectators on a good day.

What a pity !!!

 

[suds79]

I saw the movie and while it is very unlikely that it will get many people interested in playing TT, it might get a relatively small number of people interested in playing ping pong or beerpong and the bars that have ping pong tables might be a bit busier for a short period of time.

Will it change anything about TT in the USA? Nope...it will remain a small niche sport with a lot of unrealized hypothetical potential.

In other words, don't expect that things like MLTT matches to draw more than a couple of hundred spectators on a good day.

What a pity !!!

Sure well I never expected that.

It will always be a niche sport in the US. But I help run our weekly club in a city here in the Midwest part of the country. On a given week night during our 5 hour open span we get anywhere from about 20-30 people come & go throughout the night.

If you were to tell me there's a couple of casual garage players out there who see this movie, get interested in table tennis more and want to seek out the local club to have a hit where maybe they come once or twice or maybe club picked up a couple of regulars who end up coming for years? I could see it and I don't think that's unrealistic to at all.

Beyond that, I never was under the impression a singular movie could do much more than that.

 

[igorponger]

Indomitable courage inherent to a real profi., iron man indeed.

 

[golden_son]

Went to see the movie tonight. What a wild ride. As movies go it's a good film with a lot of great acting and fun cameos, but there's little chance it moves the needle on the sport in any meaningful way. For one, it's very adult; if kids aren't seeing it, they aren't begging their parents to buy a table or let them go play somewhere. Two, it's set in the 1950s and the choreographers did a respectable job of showing table tennis...as it was in the 40's and 50's. There's no question TT is a different game now and anyone trying to pick up and play like what they saw in the film would be in for a rude awakening at any club. That's not to say there couldn't be the occasional individual who sticks around, and any new blood should be welcomed, but it wasn't the archetypal sports tale of redemption that tends to get people excited about a sport, if only for a little bit. And Marty (in the film) is no hero.

But great movie!

 

[Dan]

Just watched it with the Chairman and loved it. Super fast paced, really cool story, and amazing how much table tennis was involved.

Also loved that he actually called it table tennis… not ping pong 😁

Definitely worth a watch, guys 🧡🏓

 

[KTableTennis]

Just watched it with the Chairman and loved it. Super fast paced, really cool story, and amazing how much table tennis was involved.

Also loved that he actually called it table tennis… not ping pong 😁

Definitely worth a watch, guys 🧡🏓

View attachment 39650

Dan check out my youtube channel Kennedy Table Tennis on the recent forum!

 

[suds79]

Went to go see the movie.

It was entertaining. I'm glad I watched it. It was okay for me. Not bad. Not great.

I think the acting seemed good but the main character of the movie how he's portrayed isn't exactly a standup guy or someone who is easy to get behind. Not that I was expecting that. IDK. Just okay for me.

I watched this video after seeing the movie where the actor talks about the movie & pitches it. There's a point where he looks into the camera and gives his pitch. I get it he' promoting but he's talking about believing in yourself & sacrificing for a dream, etc.

I'm thinking "wow that's the message he got? Did I miss something?" I saw a lot of lie, cheat & steal your way to get what you want. Never mind who you take it from or who you hurt. IDK. Maybe I just don't get it or am not the target audience as a middle aged guy for this one.

I don't want to see down on the movie. Like I said. It's was okay for me. Certainly glad it's out to keep table tennis in the public eye for a bit.

 

[Novarac23]

Went to go see the movie.

It was entertaining. I'm glad I watched it. It was okay for me. Not bad. Not great.

I think the acting seemed good but the main character of the movie how he's portrayed isn't exactly a standup guy or someone who is easy to get behind. Not that I was expecting that. IDK. Just okay for me.

I watched this video after seeing the movie where the actor talks about the movie & pitches it. There's a point where he looks into the camera and gives his pitch. I get it he' promoting but he's talking about believing in yourself & sacrificing for a dream, etc.

I'm thinking "wow that's the message he got? Did I miss something?" I saw a lot of lie, cheat & steal your way to get what you want. Never mind who you take it from or who you hurt. IDK. Maybe I just don't get it or am not the target audience as a middle aged guy for this one.

I don't want to see down on the movie. Like I said. It's was okay for me. Certainly glad it's out to keep table tennis in the public eye for a bit.

My wife and I watched a movie yesterday and I felt similar about the movie. I think as far as movie goes, it's not a bad film. Great drama, interesting story and acting was good. However the main character though was way too much for me. Super mean and bad tempered throughout the whole movie. I get it that they were going for the new yorker from the 50s vibe, but they have def overdone IMO.

As far as it bringing more folks to the sport, my wife (who is not a player but does go to tourneys with me and stuff) does not see how it would actually attract more people to the sport, mainly because of the main character being so over the top. I agree. I wish they made him a tad bit more soft (while still going for that New Yorker vibe).

All in all, I'm glad I watched it. I would recommend watching it. It might bring an extra few folks to the club which is great. 6.5/10 for me.

 

[Colestt]

Good to have another table tennis movie, especially with good budget and actors.

Besides Balls of fury (comedy), As One (Korean sports drama) and Ping Pong the animation, is there really any other movie/cartoon about table tennis?

There was one ping pong summer. Semi about ping pong. More of a coming of age

 

[golden_son]

Reading Marty Reisman's HOF entry and some other bits about him he was certainly a character but it's hard to gauge how much Marty Mauser's narcissistic behaviors truly reflect Reisman. Mauser is hard to like. The real Marty? Only those who knew him can say.

I think if they'd told his story growing up in the TT world it would have been much more of an endearing film about the sport but it also would have been a very different kind of movie than what Safdie was trying to make. Maybe another writer/director can take up Marty's story.

 

[shaibu]

Watched it last night. I'm a bit (negatively) surprised how unsympathetic the portrayal of the main character is. For a comparison, I think Tony Soprano character in The Sopranos is way more likeable than Marty Mauser in Marty Supreme. Quite shocked actually, I expected to like the movie version of Marty Reisman.