Oh boy, I
have been wanting to catch up with this bad boy for a while. This got chins
wagging back in the Oscar season, remember… First it was Steve Carells
unbelievable performance as the archetypal (real life ) crazy millionaire John
Du Pont. Carell, by and large known for his comic performances shot right to
the top of the Oscar nominations list with his performance, and incidentally
with his make-up. Or rather his make-up shot to the top of nominations without
him, it is after all a different category. Then there was the whole scandal
about Channing Tatum getting snubbed in the best supporting actor category. You
know shit just got awkward when even Mark Ruffalo who got nominated instead of
him openly says Tatum has been snubbed. And then, then there was the whole
matter with the real life Mark Schultz who withdrew his support from the film
shortly after its release. Having seen the film he was warned that the film
could potentially portray him as gay and strongly opposed to any such thing
being the case. Though to be honest everyone also noticed that Schultz was
rather opportunely pointing towards his own interviews and books he had
contributed to as an alternative source… Mmm… Anyway, you will recall it
definitely made its own fair share of ripples, not least because it actually is
– that old favorite of mine – a true story. A story of madness and murder – a favorite of
the general public too now you mention it! Oh and yeah, there is the odd bit of
wrestling thrown in…
David and
Mark Schultz are a brother team of great renown in the wrestling world. Both
are Olympic gold medal winners but David (Mark Ruffalo) is generally seen as
the superior talent and definitely a much better coach and trainer than Mark
(Channing Tatum) who is more hot-headed and definitely full of resentment at
not being able to escape his brothers shadow. It is for this reason that when,
seemingly quite out of the blue, he is approached by eccentric millionaire John
du pont (Steve Carell) he sees in his proposition an opportunity to finally
strike out on his own and succeed. The stakes are high- du pont wants to be the
coach of the American wrestling team that is sent to the 1988 Olympic games. He
wants David to be a part of it and to help coach the team. He will spare absolutely
no expense in doing so. For David, living alone in a tiny flat and living off
the American equivalent of pot noodles, it’s a whole new world… But it is also
the beginning of a relationship tinged with drug abuse, obsession and ambition
that will prove extremely destructive in more ways than one…
First of
all, let us get the most obvious bit out of the way. The wrestling. I cannot
stress enough that this is not a sports film. The wrestling is, in fact, almost
incidental – although goodness knows du pont himself would be very displeased
with that. This is a very insightful and fascinating look at obsession and how
it pushes people to react. Carell must have jumped for joy as an actor when he
got the part of Du pont – what a character! Basically a real life Norman Bates
(only with added millions of dollars and gigantic estate), Du pont – well into
middle age – is ruled by his mother Jean (played rather superbly by Vanessa
Redgrave) and deep down wants nothing more than to rebel against her. In his quest,
he has come up with a sport she would definitely disapprove of, and that would
set him apart from her (she breeds prize racehorses) and becomes completely
obsessed with becoming the best in the world at it – so he is not only
rebelling but in fact overshadowing her as he does it… And he has the resources
that enable him to not stop at anything to achieve this goal…
Then of
course there is the whole dynamic between Mark and David, the eternal story of
sibling rivalry. Both actors do a superb job of their parts. And I really don’t
care how much stick you give Tatum about the Magic Mike franchise – the man can
act. And boy can he move. I am not just talking about how good looking he is
(and let’s face it ladies and gents he is DAMN good looking) he just has a
talent of moving fluidly and looking damn good while he does it. The one piece
of criticism I will put across however is that the character of David is a
little too perfect. He seems to be the archetypal benign older brother, perfect
coach and father. I mean, I never knew the guy, maybe he actually was like
that. But I have a nasty suspicion that there is some level of whitewashing –
so to speak – going on in the light of, not to give out too many spoilers, what
happens next…
Foxcatcher
sustains a very robust level of tension throughout. It had me on the edge of my
seat throughout and the successful way it sustained the psychological tension
between this extraordinary and larger than life characters was a large part of
it. It is a wonderful study of the human
mind set against one of the most competitive strands of an already competitive
industry (professional sport). I personally found it both hair-raising and
thought provoking. And I promise you, you will, at the very least, get what all
the fuss is about…
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