You’ve probably heard or read some of the reviews for Foxcatcher already, and possibly seen the slew of award nominations it and along with its cast have been receiving recently. To say that this film warrants the accolades is fair, because for once a movie based on a true story manages to deliver not only that truth but also make it a fascinating and compelling character study. Be warned there are some spoilers in this review if you’re unfamiliar with the true life story.
Director Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) and writers E. Max Frye (Something Wild) and Dan Futterman (Capote) bring to the screen the true crime story of Olympic gold medalist brothers Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) and their peculiar and ultimately tragic relationship with eccentric billionaire John du Pont (Steve Carell).
Mark Schultz (Tatum) is eking out a meagre and lonely life, training for an attempt at the wrestling World Championships during the day, with occasional public speaking engagements to earn some money, and eating noodles at night. This is a stark contrast to the life that his brother Dave (Ruffalo) leads, who is a respected wrestling coach and settling down with a family. The two brothers both successful gold medalists share a strong bond, but at the same time Mark struggles to step out from behind his older brother’s shadow. When out of nowhere Mark is head-hunted by the wealthy John du Pont (Carell) and offered the support to not only go for a shot at the World Championships but to then head up Team Foxcatcher, a team of young wrestling hopefuls attempting to reinvigorate the USA’s chances at winning gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Complications between the two soon develop and in an attempt to keep his younger brother on track, Dave joins the team to help coach. But ultimately this complex triangle of personalities comes to a climax when du Pont after becoming increasingly paranoid ends up shooting and killing Dave.
Foxcatcher like Miller’s previous other films is a slow burn, and focuses strongly on its characters first and foremost. Mark Schultz is depicted as a socially awkward and lonesome young man. His relationship with his brother is profoundly layered and intricate. In some ways they’re more than just brothers, with Dave taking on a paternal role when their parents separated, but also being one of his only friends. However there are also shades of jealous longing from Mark towards Dave, evident in scenes where he quietly watches on at family gatherings as Dave plays with his kids, or whilst he coaches the other younger wrestlers. It’s a strange almost codependency that they have, that as the story progresses appears to become more one-sided in favour of Mark’s needs. Tatum manages to bring a level of depth and gravitas to the character that allows us to empathise with Mark’s journey and we really feel those moments of loneliness or his hunger for success. It’s this latter trait that then brings him into John du Pont’s radar and their similarities that results in their bonding.
Like Mark, du Pont also appears to suffer from a form of loneliness, a man with copious wealth but no friends. In one scene he describes to Mark how as a child his mother had paid off the son of the family chauffeur to befriend him. Whether this is actually true or not, it highlights du Pont’s insecurities not only with himself but with those around him. His mother Jean du Pont (Vanessa Redgrave) in the short scenes we see her has this commanding and overbearing presence despite her elderly frail frame and it’s clear that she intimidates her son. Even so du Pont though seems to have learned his cunning ways from his mother, and his manipulation of Mark is quite evident early on. When Mark refers to him as a “father figure” you can just feel the self-satisfied smugness oozing out of du Pont. Carell’s portrayal of du Pont has this feeling of unease and a sinister agenda bubbling away under the surface. He also looks nothing like how we’re used to seeing Carell courtesy of a large prosthetic nose and whole heap of extra weight. And his long drawn out speeches and his intonations don’t even sound like him so it’s clear that he’s poured a stack of effort into getting the portrayal spot on.
Stuck between these two difficult personalities is Dave Schultz, the grounded and sensible one who somehow manages to keep them both in check. Ruffalo despite being significantly older in real life than the character he’s portraying, still encapsulates that energy of a young man trying to tame lions. Physically he’s shorter in stature to Channing Tatum, and yet the scenes where their training it’s evident that his character is the one in control the entire time. Physical size doesn’t matter when you can dominate your opponent psychologically.
The manipulation and emotional toying is all fuelled by their shared and potentially misguided desire for success, not just for themselves but for their country. This blindly obsessive patriotism and a need to win at all costs should theoretically bring out the best but sadly it only does the opposite. Mark becomes more aggressive, du Pont becomes narcissistic and paranoid, and Dave is driven to try to placate both of them. This film manages to portray the dark side of high level competitive sport but it never feels or looks ugly. The cinematography from Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty) is exceptional. From those dark beginnings in Mark’s bachelor pad apartment to arriving on the spacious and luxurious du Pont estate, we see his world open up but this soon progresses to an uncomfortable feeling of claustrophobia with tight angled shots to make use of intense one on one scenes.
The main gripe I had with this film was the length, at 134 minutes for a character driven singularly focused story it did drag a little in parts. The film isn’t even dialogue heavy, there just seemed to be extended scenery sequences or shots that probably went on a minute or two minutes too long. A little bit of tighter editing could potentially have made the film a little snappier, though Miller’s previous work shows his tendency for lengthier runtimes so it’s not all that surprising. Also the ending seemed a little abrupt, with du Pont being cornered and captured by the police what seems like mere moments after shooting Dave. According to reports, du Pont actually holed himself up in his house for two days before the police managed to flush him out by turning his heating off. Admittedly this is a lot harder to portray onscreen and also a lot less thrilling to watch so there’s a little creative license being done here.
Foxcatcher is a grossly intriguing character study, and also subtle commentary on the dangers of emotionally investing yourself in your passions. The performances by Tatum, Carell and Ruffalo are stellar and particularly for Carell it allows him to showcase a dark dramatic side we’ve not witnessed before in his career. In this case, the truth is just as strange and disturbing as fiction.
Review Score: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running Time: 134 minutes
Foxcatcher is out tomorrow, January 29th through Roadshow Films
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