Bennett Miller has been on an unprecedented run to start his career in feature filmmaking. Both of his previous films, Capote and Moneyball, were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and it looks like his third, this year’s Foxcatcher, will be as well. All three films have been based on true stories, but after the humor and color of Moneyball, Miller has returned to another dark story.
Foxcatcher, like Moneyball, is based on a sports story that goes beyond sports. It centers on Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and his older brother, David (Mark Ruffalo), who are both Olympic champion wrestlers. You would think that they would be pleased with their success and they are, for a time. Suddenly, while training for the 1987 World Championship, Mark gets a call from John du Pont (Steve Carell), the heir to the du Pont fortune. John believes that Mark has even greater potential and gives him a speech about how Americans had not proclaimed him the hero that he was. Mark falls under John’s spell and is convinced. Team Foxcatcher can not only save wrestling, but bring back American glory.
While David is initially apprehensive about moving his family to the Foxcatcher Farm, when Mark and John’s relationship sours, John gets Mark to come just before the World Championships. And that’s where the film reaches a tipping point. For over an hour of film, John created a reason for Mark to hate David. John had spent that time trying to create a weakness to put in his bag of tricks.
Miller has split the film into three distinct acts - Mark joining John, David arriving and then the aftermath of the 1988 Seoul Olympics - but the film really feels like one long setup to the shocking moment. Well, it’s shocking if you don’t know how the true story ended.
Unlike Moneyball, which moves like a speed train through a baseball season, or Capote’s methodical criminal investigation, Foxcatcher moves almost frustratingly slow. Miller doesn’t really make you feel like John is a ticking time bomb. Sure, he’s an oddball character, but he doesn’t really seem like the guy who would be pushed to murder. This does make the murder - which again, you know is coming if you know the story - feel like a bullet to not only his victim, but to us. The crowd in the theater gasped at the moment. Wisely, Miller does not keep the film running long after it, since he’s already past the two-hour mark.
Pacing might be an issue for Foxcatcher, but acting isn’t. Miller has made it obvious that he can get brilliant and moving performances from his stars (seriously, this is the guy that proved that Jonah Hill of all people could act) and his third film is no different. Channing Tatum, the one member of the lead trio that doesn’t need a lot of extra makeup, impresses as Mark, particularly in his soul-baring hotel-destruction scene.
Of course, Steve Carell has gotten plenty of praise for completely transforming himself from loveable 40-Year-Old Virgin to a psychopath with mommy issues. The remarkable part of the performance is that it still has a dose of humor in there. And E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman’s script doesn’t give him a ridiculous outburst scene, which is usually mandatory for playing crazy people with hopes of an Oscar. Carell still impresses with his silent, quiet moments. It’s a very reactive performance, one that makes actually following the character on the screen essential. You can’t look away or you might miss an important facial tick.
As with other slow movies, Foxcatcher is essentially a quiet film, with few music cues from composer Rob Simonsen. It’s also immaculately designed. The dreary look from Capote is back, and even taken to an extreme here. Clearly, if you aren't into slow-burning movies that aren't filled with loud scenes of spectacles, Foxcatcher isn't your kind of movie.
Foxcatcher makes one feel as if Miller had decided Moneyball was too bright a film for his taste. But the fact is that Moneyball and Foxcatcher obviously come from the same filmmaker. Both films are about obsessed sports figures who don’t come through in the end, but the stakes are much higher here. While Billy Beane continues to be the GM for the A’s, John du Pont died in jail and a man was murdered.
image courtesy of William Bernard/ACE/INFphoto.com
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