Sibling Rivalry: The Safdie Brothers Explore the Same Heartbreaking Themes in Separate Films

BY NATE DAY

Josh and Benny Safdie both released films in 2025 – just mere days apart – but for the first time in their careers, they did not collaborate.

Josh Safdie’s ‘Marty Supreme’ made its world debut at the 2025 New York Film Festival to rapturous reactions online from the lucky few in attendance. The screening allegedly took place mere hours after Josh completed it – and mere days after Josh’s brother, Benny, opened his own film, ‘The Smashing Machine,’ to less-than-stellar audience scores and box office returns.

Josh, 41, and Benny, 39, have co-directed several feature films, most notably ‘Good Time’ (2017) and ‘Uncut Gems’ (2019). These two films cemented the brothers not just as up-and-comers to watch, but as high-octane storytellers who had mastered the induction of anxiety and the catalysts of chaos in their films.

A side note to keep in mind: Both of those films helped to rehabilitate the images of their stars, Robert Pattinson (known as the heartthrob star of the cringy ‘Twilight’ films) and Adam Sandler (the once-respected ‘SNL’ alum who had resorted to streaming-only paycheck gigs), respectively.

Now, the brothers have embarked on their first solo films amid rumors of a rift that bubbled up as they developed another film set to star Sandler, Ben Affleck and Megan Thee Stallion about the world of baseball card trading (God, I hope we see that movie someday).

Feud rumors were mostly squashed during the ‘Smashing Machine’ press run, when Benny clarified that he and his brother never intended to make movies together forever before he posed for photos with Josh at the film’s premiere.

When their movies are put next to one another, however, it becomes clear that the two brothers had similar ideas on their minds, as ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘The Smashing Machine’ appear to be very similar stories, albeit told very differently.

Disclaimer: I have not yet seen ‘Marty Supreme,’ but early reactions paint a vivid picture.

That said, we know that ‘Marty Supreme’ is the globe-trotting story of a fictional ping pong champion determined to leave his mark on not just the sport, but the world at large.

‘The Smashing Machine,’ on the other hand, is a tender portrait of Mark Kerr, the real-life UFC pioneer who struggled with substance abuse and toxic relationships while trying desperately to make a name for himself doing what he loved.

They sound similar enough, right? In fact, I can describe both films in a single sentence: An athlete struggles with the pressures and desires to be the best, literally unable to fathom not achieving their dreams.

Allow me to elaborate.

In ‘The Smashing Machine’ (a film I adored, by the way), Kerr – played by Dwayne Johnson, another actor whose career needed a serious credibility boost – is asked by a journalist how he’d feel if he loses his upcoming fight. Kerr is unable to answer the question. Having never lost a fight before in his career, Kerr has unknowingly crafted a titanium self-image that made the idea of a loss impossible to process.

As he often did with those adjacent to his sport, Kerr eloquently explained to the journalist that his question was simply impossible to answer – Kerr had no idea how he’d react because not winning was not going to be part of his story. Of course, this made his first loss in the ring a gladiatorial effort to move beyond once outside the ring.

In the trailer for ‘Marty Supreme,’ Timothee Chalamet’s character, loosely based on table tennis pioneer Marty Reisman, asserts himself as the next big thing before being asked a similar question: “What do you plan to do if this whole dream of yours doesn’t work out?”

“That doesn’t even enter my consciousness,” he replies.

Fascinating that the movies the Safdie brothers split up to make on their own deal with the same central idea, isn’t it? But is it a coincidence, or is it an indicator of how these two individual movies came to be?

We’ve seen the paths of the Safdie Brothers diverging ever so slightly for a while now, with Benny taking on more acting roles in movies like ‘Oppenheimer’ and television shows like ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ while Josh has stayed behind-the-scenes. Speaking of television, Benny wrote and starred in 'The Curse' for Paramount+ (he executive-produced the show with Josh, but it’ll suffice to say Benny left a bigger fingerprint on the project as a whole).

Meanwhile, their movie about baseball cards seemed to be moving full-steam-ahead at Netflix until an abrupt and unexplained production stop that left fans with broken hearts and fingers crossed (not to mention, probably opened up Sandler’s schedule for ‘Jay Kelly’ and a potential Oscar nomination).

Feud or no feud, rumors or truth, what exactly is the result of this halt?

Two movies about men at the top of their games (both played by high-grossing box office-toppers to boot), masters of their craft, so driven by their individual visions that it puts their relationships with others at risk – all for a shot at success they cannot imagine their lives without. I’m not exactly talking about the protagonists of the movies, if you catch my drift.

We have yet to see how ‘Marty Supreme’ plays out, but we know that Mark Kerr’s marriage, the subject of ‘The Smashing Machine,’ eventually ended. And we know that Benny sees that story as a tender and heartbreaking one – one heavily influenced by the toxicities of hypermasculinity and addictions, cravings, and obsession.

Based on the early reviews of ‘Marty Supreme,’ it seems that history will likely remember that movie more fondly than ‘The Smashing Machine.’ C’est la vie in Hollywood, I suppose. Or perhaps it can be chalked up to Chalamet’s meteoric rise in contrast to Johnson’s own semi-downward spiral.

What I think is more fascinating, however, is how they’ll exist as companion pieces for ages. These brothers split from their creative partnership, only to make movies that tell us exactly what was going on in their heads and their hearts in the lead-up to both movies – a rare and exciting peek into the minds of Hollywood’s mad geniuses.

Will the brothers ever reunite? Will they remain solo creators for the rest of their careers? Will one inherit the Safdie trademarks more than the other? And will the stories each brother creates going forward continue to hint at their self-inflicted torment at having sacrificed a partnership for the sake of their individual greatness?