Red Scare Podcast: "Martyr Supreme" (Jan 12, 2026)

Episode Overview

In their first episode of 2026, Anna Khachiyan and guest co-host Ben* (subbing for Dasha) deliver a highly detailed, sardonic, and digressive cultural analysis centered around Josh Safdie’s latest film, Marty Supreme. Using the movie as a springboard, the duo riff on everything from Jewish-American identity and the current state of film, to contemporary gender mores, law enforcement, and viral political incidents. The episode is punctuated by deadpan wit, self-deprecation, and trenchant critiques of critical and mainstream audiences alike.

[*Ben seems to stand in as a guest, possibly Ben Dreyfuss. Attribution is made based on the transcript’s speakers.]

Main Themes

• In-depth review and dissection of Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, its style, performances, and meta-commentary
• Jewishness as identity, subject, and trope in contemporary American cinema
• How films like Marty Supreme reflect broader anxieties about assimilation, masculinity, and American-ness
• The limits of crowd-pleasing cinema and the tension between authenticity and formula
• Digressions into contemporary social issues, including the ICE/Minneapolis shooting and gendered radicalization

Detailed Episode Breakdown

1. Return and New Year’s Banter (00:26–01:00)

• Anna and Ben kick off the first episode of 2026, post-holiday break.
• Opening with jokes about the episode title and puns on “supreme,” setting an irreverent tone.

2. Marty Supreme Review: First Impressions (01:00–05:54)

• Marty Supreme is Safdie’s first post-breakup solo effort—a high-budget, period “dramedy” loosely based on real ping-pong hustler Marty Reisman.
• Ben: “I have to give credit to Josh Softy because he's amazingly smart and talented...and very challenging as a filmmaker.” (02:29)
• Anna is slightly more enthusiastic: “One of the best movies of the year.” (03:16)
• Both agree: Safdie’s atmosphere and eye for detail are the film’s strongest assets (03:50–04:54).
• Discussion of the anxiety-inducing, “cortisol spiking” Safdie house style; Anna recounts a surreal movie theater moment where the fire alarm raised everyone’s anxiety, mirroring the onscreen tension (04:09–04:54).

3. Safdie’s Filmmaking Style and Moviegoing Today (05:54–06:42)

• Both hosts lament the ordeal of contemporary moviegoing: inflated runtimes, endless previews, and “demeaning” theater experiences (05:58–06:29).
• Anna: “I really like the theater I go to... but some not so much.” (06:29)

4. Marty Supreme Cast & Performances (06:42–10:13)

• Notable cast: Timothée Chalamet as Marty, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nomi Fry, Tyler the Creator, etc.
• Anna on Chalamet: “He was good, great. But I wasn't like blown away.” (08:15)
• Ben on the movie’s formula: “The softies are good at like delivering crowd pleasers.... it is a little like formulaic.” (08:33)
• Anna and Ben agree that while Chalamet’s performance is strong, it lacks comedic chops and “rhythmic variation”—ultimately, “kind of one note.” (09:59)

5. Themes, Plot, and Safdie Cinematic Universe (11:16–14:11)

• The film follows Marty, an arrogant table tennis champ navigating infamy, scandal, and family drama—mirroring Safdie’s prior narratives (Uncut Gems, Good Time).
• Comparison of opening/ending imagery—symbolic, anxious Safdie trademarks.
• Ben: “All of these movies have in common that they're about a guy gambling with his fate. Like borrowing, stealing, scamming, doing whatever it takes.” (11:16)
• Discussion: Unlike Uncut Gems’ nihilistic ending, Marty Supreme has a “more mature,” ambiguous emotional conclusion (13:00–13:46).

6. Female Characters & Safdie’s Gendered Lens (14:11–16:44)

• Anna longs for a Safdie film about a woman, but notes “all the female characters are super underwritten, one dimensional.” (14:43)
• “He makes movies about men, about masculine stuff, which I like.... Very Boys Will Be Boys.” (15:10)
• Side discussion on Woody Allen’s comparative psychological insight into women versus Safdie.

7. Meta-Filmmaking & Autobiography in Marty Supreme (17:49–19:31)

• Anna and Ben argue Safdie’s films are always, at some level, about the struggle, hustle, and legacy of movie-making itself.
• Anna: “Every movie is kind of about making a movie.” (17:44)
• They note autobiographical undertones, with Marty as a stand-in for Safdie reckoning with his industry legacy (18:05).

8. Critical & Commercial Reception (20:00–21:39)

• Marty Supreme is an “unqualified success” and reportedly the highest grossing A24 film ever (20:44).
• Both agree it’s difficult to critique a film so knowingly self-aware and self-referential.

9. Pivotal Scenes & Plot Holes (22:00–24:46)

• Discursive parsing of pivotal scenes: Marty impregnates a friend in a stock room and meets his newborn in tears.
• Amused critique of plot logic: “It doesn't make sense that they...wouldn't all know each other.” (22:35)
• Favorite scene for Ben: Marty’s climactic, intimate encounter with his Japanese opponent, blending athletic respect and narcissism (23:49 – 24:46).

10. Dialogue, Style & Anachronism (25:03–30:52)

• Mild annoyance with ahistorical dialogue (“You're a narcissist”)—but both agree they’re fine with stylized/presentist storytelling.
• Praise for the “Softie house style” (fast-paced, anxiety-driven, highly detailed), but note potential for self-parody.
• Anna wants to see Safdie move away from frenetic grit to a more restrained, “Hannah and Her Sisters”-type film (31:00).

11. Jewishness, Assimilation, and Meta-Commentary (31:12–48:07)

• Extensive discourse on Jewish representation, self-awareness about “entitled or groveling” stereotypes, and postwar Jewish-American assimilation.
• Dive into “ordeal of civility” — the tension between Jewish particularism and American universalism (45:57–47:00).
• Anna: “Part of assimilating In America, definitely for the Jews, wasn't just about like, assimilating. It was about, like, being excellent.” (46:36)
• Talk about how Marty Supreme inadvertently satirizes identity politics through irony and knowing self-reference.
• Notable Quote (Ben, 56:33, quoting a review):

“Marty supreme is not a genre film. Not even a sports movie. It’s a movie driven by a maniacal supernatural drive to entertain. It has a playful relationship to history, and it’s a satire of identity politics...”

12. Jewish Filmmaking, Transcendence, and the New York Groove (58:42–63:31)

• Consideration of whether Safdie (and prior Jewish auteurs, e.g., Spielberg/Kubrick) have/can transcend “Jewish movies.”
• Anna: “I think that Josh already has transcended...Most of his films aren't about being Jewish.” (59:40)
• Discussion of “ethnic whites,” New York archetypes, and why they're more compelling than WASP characters on screen.

13. Retro and Modern Society – Technology & Social Mobility (71:09–73:23)

• Anna celebrates period pieces as “satisfying” because pre-digital worlds allow for more kinetic, scammy, dramatic action:

“You can’t, like, scam and worm your way into high society the way that Marty does. Because there is no high society anymore.” (71:59)

• Modern life’s surveillance, digital records, and “receipts” kill mystique, enable hypocrisy hounding, and flatten all difference.

14. Segue: Viral Policing, Gender, and Minneapolis (73:44–105:53)

• The conversation takes a sharp turn into real-world tragedy: the viral police/ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
• Key points discussed:
  • The difficulties of parsing intent and morality in cases of police lethality.
  • Media narratives, the futility of body cam “evidence” to sway opinion, and both sides’ obsession with hypocrisy.
  • Gendered narratives: why are “women so easily radicalized by the left?” (Collected at 79:37–86:04)
  • “Karen” moral panics, radicalization by social media, and contemporary tragedy as a product of compounded personal/societal contradictions.
    • Ben: “This is really like a Softy film. It's like a lead up of gambling against your fate forever.” (96:45)
    • Anna: “In a way, plausibly, what she did...is not so different from suicide by cop.” (103:14)
• The futility of expecting rational, “de-escalatory” responses from anyone, and lament over both right and left’s inability to find the high ground.

15. Coda: Law, Hypocrisy, and Social Contract (124:27–129:36)

• Anna and Ben touch on utilitarian, unsatisfying truths about state power, law enforcement, and society’s collapsing mutual trust.
  • “They're guys doing a job that has to exist in our current state of affairs because there are a lot of illegal immigrants in the nation.” (126:53)
  • Discomfort over the spectacle of enforcement, the proliferation of ICE, and how everyone avoids the core tension.
• The episode ends with a reflection on tragic contradiction as the defining note of both the movie and real life:
  • Anna paraphrasing Elia Kazan: “A tragedy is when a person is doomed by the inevitable contradictions of their character. And I would add that contemporary tragedy also has to do with...the contradictions of society.” (119:53)
• Ben: “She thought she knew, and she like, fucked around and found out. And it's very sad. I feel very bad for this woman. I'm not like happy or excited that she died.” (107:49)

Notable Quotes & Moments With Timestamps

• Ben, on Safdie as a filmmaker:
  “He's amazingly smart and talented...and very challenging as a filmmaker.” (02:29)
• Anna, on the power of period detail:
  “A period piece is super satisfying... you can't just call a guy and you can't, like... scam and worm your way into high society the way that Marty does.” (71:22)
• On Chalamet's acting:
  “He's really not funny. And I think that's his big... weak spot as an actor.” (09:20 – Anna)
• On Jewish-American “ordeal of civility”:
  “Jews used to have to be like hyper collectivist for their survival. And Marty's survivalism is very like self oriented...He's out for himself. And it's about like the distinctness...” (53:53 – Anna)
• On contemporary gender politics and tragedy:
  “I mean, I haven't seen too many people making this point... in a way, plausibly, what she did...is not so different from suicide by cop.” (103:14 – Anna)
• Final note, on society’s contradictions:
  “A tragedy is when a person is doomed by the inevitable contradictions of their character. And I would add that contemporary tragedy also has to do with...the contradictions of society.” (119:53 – Anna)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Topic | |-----------|------------------------------------------------| | 00:26–01:06 | Opening Jokes, New Year’s Return | | 01:00–05:54 | Marty Supreme – First Impressions & Style | | 06:42–10:13 | Cast & Performances (Timothée Chalamet, etc.) | | 11:16–14:11 | Plot, Themes, Moral Ambiguity | | 14:11–16:44 | Gender & Female Characters | | 17:49–19:31 | Auto-Biographical Echoes, Making a Movie | | 22:00–24:46 | Plot Logic, Pivotal Scenes | | 25:03–30:52 | Dialogue, Anachronisms, “Softie Style” | | 31:12–48:07 | Jewishness, Assimilation, Identity Politics | | 58:42–63:31 | Jewish Filmmaking & New York | | 71:09–73:23 | Period Detail, Modern Society Digression | | 73:44–105:53| Minneapolis ICE Shooting, Gender, Protest Discourse | | 124:27–129:36 | Law, Hypocrisy, Social Contract, Finale |

Summary

Red Scare’s “Martyr Supreme” episode is not merely a movie review—it’s a meandering, critical, and at times darkly comedic meditation on the overlaps between art, ethnicity, gender, tragedy, and contemporary political farce. Anna and Ben dissect Marty Supreme’s Jewish male antihero (and Safdie’s entire approach) with both relish and skepticism, lament the state of filmmaking and moviegoing, and use both film and current events as registers for the broader, confusing contradictions animating American life. The episode’s tone swings from ironic to earnest, occasionally dwelling on the unresolved and perhaps unresolvable—leaving listeners with more open questions, and more to argue about, than any tidy review ever could.