Reel Look: 'Foxcatcher'

Rating: 7/10 (31 January 2015)

"Coach is the father. Coach is a mentor. Coach has great power on athlete's life." Channing Tatum is pushed to his physical limits in director Bennett Miller's American biographical true-crime drama as 1984 Olympic gold medalist and two time world champion US wrestler Mark Schultz, a single late twenties-something washed-up fighter living alone in a drab housing establishment until he receives a call to a shot at the big-time to shine in the upcoming 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
Loosely based on his autobiographical memoir, "Foxcatcher: The True Story of my Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold" is tediously unraveled before us, as we witness brotherhood, competition and tragedy. However, does this film portray how one can become the victor disregarding physical strength and competition? Let's take a look.
Telling his older brother and wrestling trainer/partner Dave (Mark Ruffalo) to come with him, he refuses, as he has settled down with his family and is comfortable now. Flown out to a mansion alone in Pennsylvania, Mark meets up with ornithologist, conchologist, philatelist, coach wrestling enthusiast multimillionaire (and an occasional crack-sniffer with mother issues) John E. du Pont(Steve Carell, a polar opposite of his 'The Office' persona and character voice actor for CGI animated family films to a chilling, almost reptilian performance). Du Pont then invites Mark to join his wrestling team, "Team Foxcatcher", to train for the World Championship and be paid for it handsomely as well. Developing a friendship with Mark, he confesses to him later on in the film how he was the only other friend he ever had, whereas his first one was only paid to be his growing up by his mother, Jean du Pont (Venessa Regrave, now wheelchair-bound and seeing wrestling as a "low sport", she does not like seeing her son be brought low). Du Pont did not discover his "friend" was being paid until he was sixteen. Later on when Dave does come down, along with the family, Mark's self-esteem is damaged by du Pont and he pushes Dave and even his coach farther away as he personally focuses on training in hopes of claiming his Olympic victory that follows for his own gain, culminated by an ending as frigid as the weather inhabiting most of the picture.
Slow but hypnotic, chilling and Wes Anderson-esque in feel but not in tone, 'Foxcatcher' indeed proved superb performances, sports action and a quiet demeanor that embraces the film to keep you engaged enough to keep you interested in this harrowing and disturbing character study. With three Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Picture, it is the first to be nominated for Best Director but not Best Picture since 2008. The film was also nominated for five Oscars at the 2015 Academy Awards. With Tatum stating that his role was "the hardest acting challenge I've had to date", it truly shows as through this portrait how one man is pushed to give his all against the sting of tournament losses to the extreme against familial loss. Though du Pont passed away in prison in 2010 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and emphysema, Dave's family now resides in North Carolina. And Mark still wants the world to know that though, looking back now in his fifties, he did not go out a loser but ultimately resurfaced a champion.