Foxcatcher

Four out of Four Stars

Bennett Miller, the director of Capote and Moneyball, delivers another powerful and fact-based film, Foxcatcher. On January 26, 1996, John E. DuPont murdered Olympic wrestler, David Schultz. Miller's new film chronicles the fatal relationship between John DuPont, David Schultz, and his younger brother, Mark. Miller manages to create a film that is as intensely and remarkably character driven as his previous films.

At the 1984 Summer Olympics,  Mark and David Schultz won gold medals in competitive wrestling. Three years later, both brothers are working to make ends meet; for David (Mark Ruffalo), he is content in training for the 1988 Olympics and living the life as a family man. As for Mark (Channing Tatum), he craves to get another gold medal and to step out of his brother's shadow. Fate knocks on Mark's door as he is commissioned by eccentric millionaire, John DuPont (Steve Carrell), to train for the 1988 Olympics and live out on his sprawling Pennsylvania estate known as Foxcatcher. Mark embraces DuPont's warmth and fatherly presence until it turns into an intense and turbulent relationship based on DuPont's eccentricity and their individual desires to be recognized as winners; for Mark, he wants to not just be known as "Dave Schultz's brother" while John wants to win the acceptance of his mother, June (a chilling Vanessa Redgrave), with the grand illusions of trying to make America stand out as a supreme country through his wrestling team, Team Foxcatcher.

Steve Carrell, who has made a successful career with his presence as a comedic leading man, gives one of his most haunting and phenomenal performances as John DuPont by channeling his mannerisms and unpredictable behavior with the same deviousness and eccentricity as Welles did as Charles Foster Kane, whether it be gloating his mother's foxcatching trophies to his guests or doing lines of cocaine while riding in his helicopter. Channing Tatum gives a masterclass in acting with his portrayal of the naive, yet self-destructive, Mark Schultz as his unbridled ambition to be the best is conflicted while under the fatherly embrace of DuPont. Mark Ruffalo gives a remarkable performance as David Schultz as he walks the fine balance of being a relaxed family man and a tenacious coach towards his brother.

Dan Futterman (who wrote the screenplay for Capote) and co-screenwriter, E. Max Frye, deliver a solid script that screams Greek Tragedy such as tapping into the spite-fueled relationship between DuPont and his mother and the Cain and Abel relationship between Mark and David Schultz.
Greig Fraser's cinematography is stunning as in his previous work on Zero Dark Thirty as he captures the stark beauty of the Foxcatcher estate and his use of lighting adds an element of depth into the troubled psyche of DuPont and the mental breakdown of Mark Schultz. Foxcatcher is nothing short of an incredible and harrowing film.