Directed by: Bennett Miller
Rating: ★★½
Based on ‘true events’ about eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont (Carell) hiring Olympic gold medallist brothers Mark (Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Ruffalo) to help train a US wrestling team, Foxcatcher is an interesting movie that tells a unique and disturbing tale of how envy can destroy people.
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| Mark and Dave Schultz may be Olympians, but that doesn't mean they don't have problems! |
Mark, who lives a fairly poor life even after winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games in wrestling, is asked by du Pont to train his private wrestling team, Team Foxcatcher. Mark moves into his extravagant mansion and begins to form a very strange ‘friendship’ with du Pont, as the millionaire invites him into his lavish lifestyle.
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| John du Pont wants to welcome Mark into his 'family'... |
Although the obvious gay undertones are completely glossed over, and the authenticity of the film feels questionable, Foxcatcher is watchable and involving, mainly because the central themes are very potent.
The fact that both Mark and du Pont are desperately trying to prove themselves to other people is very strong, especially since, in Mark’s case, he doesn’t have to. The subtle and complex dynamic between the three central characters is very competently done, and although it may be on the nose at times, it works.
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| Mark just can't be happy with himself... |
Out of the three, I really feel that Ruffalo gives the best performance, as, in his own ‘Ruffalovian’ style, in which he furrows his brow and doesn’t say very much but reacts to everything around him with subtle changes in his facial expressions, he is awkwardly likeable.
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| Mark Ruffalo is very good as Dave... |
Carell, who wears a very strange rubber mask like Movie Marmite Man Award Winning Actor Idris Elba in Mandela: A Long Walk To Freedom, is creepy but, surprisingly, plays his role too understatedly, which is odd. I assume his intention is to be hauntingly malevolent, but, in the context of this film, I really don’t think it works too well. He isn’t bad as du Pont; in fact, he’s pretty good: he just doesn’t steal the show in a role that could have been a tour de force.
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| What's up with the plastic masks?? |
Tatum clearly wants to win an Oscar, and although he does give an emotional performance and gets to sigh and cry, playing an ‘emotionally distant troubled young athlete’ isn’t exactly going to show us much of a range, and isn’t really anything different from what he’s done before (remember Coach Carter, anyone?). Yes, in Foxcatcher he’s probably the best he’s ever been but he’s probably the best he’ll ever be, as I highly doubt he’ll ever take a role that doesn’t portray him as a brooding hunk.
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| Channing gives his best performance yet. |
Although the film is a slow-burner, at times it does start to drag, and one annoying thing about the film is that the characters internalise their feelings too much. This is mostly a problem when the homoerotic relationship between Mark and du Pont is ignored, because something changes between them and we never know what exactly it is, and I think in a film about a complicated relationship between two people, we need to know more about them.
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| What's really going on between these two? |
Saying that though, the ending is shocking and unnerving. The way in which the climax is shown to us is done incredibly well, and the director makes the most out of the finale so that it is completely disturbing and evocative. It lingers with you long after the film is over.
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| It's probably not a good idea to give a gun to a man with mental problems... |
All in all, Foxcatcher was a good watch. It’s an okay movie, and I enjoyed it, it just wasn’t the most amazing film I’ve ever seen and, apart from the ending, it is a largely forgettable Oscar bait film that could have been better if it felt more authentic.
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