Steve Carell
Channing Tatum
Mark Ruffalo
Vanessa Redgrave
Sienna Miller

E. Max Frye
Dan Futterman

134 mins.
Biography, Drama, Sport
November 14, 2014

Rated R for some drug use and a scene of violence. (MPAA)

Bennett Miller’s “Foxcatcher” is based on a true story. I don’t know how true it is; and for that, I’m glad. I came to this film without any preconceptions. How true this is doesn’t matter anyway: This is a narrative film, not a documentary. It should capture the essence of the people and the events, not the history. History, along with memory, isn’t completely accurate anyway. OK, enough of that.

Miller’s film runs on silences and pauses. It relies on what’s not being said. It has a languid yet halting rhythm. The performances fit the style. They blend together into one performance in a way, especially the performances of Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, and Mark Ruffalo. Each of those actors is on the same wavelength. This is haunting stuff.

Their characters aren’t the same, though. Tatum plays Mark Schultz, a quiet, Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler who is under the tutelage of his Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler brother, David Schultz, played by Ruffalo. Tatum and Ruffalo don’t look like brothers, but it doesn’t matter. They feel like brothers – that’s more important. And they look like wrestlers: Take a look at how they walk, for instance.

At the beginning of the film, we see Mark in the gym, practicing with a dummy. He’s introverted. He doesn’t waste his words. When he fills in for his brother as a guest speaker at an elementary school, he gives a laconic speech that would work only in a wrestling gym. It certainly doesn’t work for kids. David is a more gregarious type of fellow. He understands Mark – he pretty much raised him – but he understands the outside world, as well. He’s Mark’s support system and translator of sorts.

Carell plays John du Pont of the Du Pont family. He’s a rich man with mommy issues. He desperately wants to be accepted and needed. He’s the creep of all creeps. Is it that he’s just a big fan of wrestling, or is it that he’s attracted to wrestlers? Does he want to be them? Single White (Fe)Male anyone? He insinuates himself into the brothers’ lives and into USA wrestling. It doesn’t end well. Carell manages to act through his facial prosthetics without looking like a joke. The bottom of Tatum’s jaw juts out, but you don’t take that as a joke either. All three actors do a great job. I wouldn’t praise one over the other. They’re a trio.

While Miller was able to make this story creep under my skin, he didn’t surprise me. The silences and pauses were used masterfully, but the few jolting moments – du Pont shooting a gun at the ceiling of his gym to get the wrestlers’ attention, Mark smashing his head into a mirror after losing a match, the ending tragedy – didn’t shock me. They provided only a minor jolt. The reason for this is that there was very little buildup to those moments. By the time they happened, they were expected. Again, I didn’t know the story beforehand, not even a little bit. It just took too long to get there. Plus, the repetitive style blunted some of the power. The halting rhythm made things hang in the air effectively, but it held the film back, too. Miller pinned us down, but he didn’t grapple with us. He didn’t slam us into the ground. Rather, he stood at a distance from the events on display. That worked for much of the film, but he needed to get more involved in the explosive moments. He should have sucked the air out of them. He should have gotten his hands dirty. If he had, those moments would have provided a much needed contrast to the rest of the film.

All in all, this is the kind of film that you appreciate for its ability to sustain an atmosphere of uneasiness. But then what?

Verdict: Good

About: (Source: foxcatcher)

Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is struggling in obscurity and poverty in Wisconsin when he is invited by wealthy heir John du Pont (Steve Carell) to move on to his lavish estate to form a team and to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Schultz seizes the opportunity, eager to step out of the shadow of his revered older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo), a prominent wrestling coach and Gold Medal winner himself.

With his vast financial resources and state-of-the-art training facility at Foxcatcher Farm, du Pont appoints himself head coach of the team, eager to win the respect of his peers and the approval of his condemning mother (Vanessa Redgrave).

The dynamic between Schultz and du Pont deepens as Mark embraces his benefactor as a father figure. But du Pont’s mercurial personality and psychological gameplay begins to weigh heavily on Mark’s shaky self-esteem, undermining his abilities on the mat. When du Pont’s favoritism shifts to brother Dave – who possesses the authority and confidence both he and Mark lack – the trio is propelled towards a tragedy no one could have foreseen.

From Academy Award® nominee Bennett Miller (CAPOTE, MONEYBALL) comes a searing true-life account of three men grappling for their versions of the American Dream.