Review of Foxcatcher (2014) by Therocksbarney — 08 Jan 2015

“Foxcatcher”’s true story and ensemble both seem to have a cold and frosty shade of white over them and the film generally has that too, both literally and metaphorically. Bennett Miller’s direction reflects this, and the several chilling shots he captures, for me made my experience within that screen.

The film’s true story follows Mark Schulz as he trains to win the Gold medal for Wrestling at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, with the help of the multimillionaire John Du Pont. As usual difficult questions are posed and “Foxcatcher” again asks us a question, as so many films do, about America, and as Erin Whitney and Matthew Jacobs point out in their review for the Huffington Post, it is one that acts as “a distant horror story for the 1% percent”. The film comments heavily on this with the multimillionaire Du Pont as the man at the fore front of these comments understandably. For example Du Pont almost seems to have the Olympic Wrestling Schulz brothers simply because they form part of his trophy cabinet, as objects to play with at his disposal, which acts as an explanation for the films ending.

But the compelling true story and character study, particularly in regards to John Du Pont (played by Steve Carrell), is the films strength and a fascinating one at that. It will probably be unknown to my generation. But as usual the story told here is different to the one that actually happened and on reading what did happen it seems that the film’s director, Bennett Miller, missed out on several details that could have made the story that much better. For example, although the film does pick up on Du Pont’s descent into madness to an extent, it doesn’t take the opportunity to make it obvious and although I appreciate subtlety I think it would have been even better otherwise. In the true story, Du Pont for example thought that his horses were sending him messages from Mars and he also frequently asked his wrestlers to check his attic for ghosts. This really would have been a test for Carrell and could have contributed to an already stellar performance by him.

The film though is propelled forward by its performances that branch out past what these actors are typically known for, Channing Tatum (playing Mark Schulz) and Mark Ruffalo (playing Dave Schulz) for example. But it is Steve Carrell’s performance that manages to break through the story and again what roles he is generally known for, and the hole that he leaves allows for Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo to follow through it, and therefore still deserved of the praise they have received from others. These performances ultimately stop “Foxcatcher” from being defined as good for its story alone.

Bennett Miller’s direction is good. As I mentioned several of the shots he captured really made my cinematic experience, the best of those featuring Du Pont releasing his horses out into the wild. We see Du Pont’s dark silhouette with his hands raised, urging his horses to flee and it looked great on screen.

Although its story is good and its ensemble, headed up by Carrell, is brilliant “Foxcatcher” doesn’t bring anything new to the table, and although I didn’t expect it to, I did expect it to do more than it did. It’s a vague expression to say that and I’m lost for words really in how to describe why I’m not rating the film better, but it’s almost as if, thinking about it, the film was saved by its ensemble performances which will explain why so many will have it in their best films of 2015 lists come the end of the year. Ultimately, “Foxcatcher” is a good film and worth seeing, but not one that lives up to the hype surrounding it.