Steve Carell's minimalistic performance is indeed Oscar worthy!

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2015)

Ever since I saw the first trailer, I had a very high, Oscar worthy expectations for this slow, but intense wrestling biopic drama the "Foxcatcher". There is a sense of underlined intensity throughout this film, that leads us to believe that the end might culminate in a violent crescendo as it indeed does.
"When wealthy John du Pont (Steve Carell) invites Olympic wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) to move to his estate and help form a wrestling team for the 1988 Olympics, Mark sees a way to step out of the shadow of his charismatic brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo). However, du Pont begins to lead Mark down a dark road, causing the athlete's self-esteem to slip. Meanwhile, du Pont becomes fixated on bringing Dave into the fold, eventually propelling all three toward an unforeseen tragedy."
In "Foxcatcher" the whole wrestling competition has a very heavy homo erotic undertone about it. Specially in the retrospect of the relationship between John du Pont and Mark Schultz. One is trying to be a father figure the other looking for guidance. As the film progresses there is something darker that develops between the two man, which will explain almost jealous like behavior of John du Pont towards his brother Dave and their relationship. On the other hand the fact that Mark lost his family when he was 2 years old made him be fully dependent on his older brother Dave. We can see the bond between them two being tested, when wealthy blue blood du Pont, decides to invite them both to his Foxcatcher a state, where he offers them a perfect training environment. However nothing comes free in this world and as the film progresses, the pressure on Mark to be the best and come out of his older brother shadow takes painful tool on his mental health.
The whole movie feels like a tour the force of those 3 actors. Both Ruffalo and Tatum went through 6 months long grueling wrestling training and indeed look the part. Both concentrated on body language and type of walk that truly transforms them on to this real life characters that seems to be removed from their actual film star persona. The biggest highlight however and to some extant surprise is the performance of comedian Steve Carell. His minimalistic performance is indeed Oscar worthy. Behind all the prosthetics, he actually developed a speech pattern and a way of breading which controls the speed of delivering lines. In "Foxcatcher" he is a super wealthy man who does not need to talk fast. Psychologically his relationship with his mother is interesting. He is looking for approval from her, always feeling like he disappoints her by engaging in a wrestling sport, which she feels is way too common for someone of his social statue.
On paper "Foxcatcher" looks like sure Oscar bet, however there is a problem in this movie and namely with the timing. Among many other things the job of a good director is to be able to maintain the timing of the lines between the characters which creates the illusion of reality. Big part of that, can be created in editing but sometimes when actors take a little bit too much time for their thought process in between their lines, the whole scene can loose it's tempo which happens here all the time. By doing so, when tempo of the movie gets slowed down the whole movie looses its intensity and audiences interest. That is a pity indeed because this film had a huge potential to be truly exceptional. I also think that music and specially sound design should have been used to a better effect.
I am happy for Steve Carell that he was able to showcase his dramatic side in this film. He has been rightfully nominated for an Oscar for his role. I only wish that the whole film would have been made a little bit better, raising it form a good level to a great one. It is all about fulfilling it's potential which "Foxcatcher" fully did not. I might be bit hard on "Foxcatcher" in this review, but when you've expected great things and you have to subtle, the enjoyment of the viewing experience can sometime leave something to be desired. "Foxcatcher" is still worth the cinema admission ticked though.
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