The Travelling Toe: Foxcatcher (movie critique)

Friday, January 30, 2015

Foxcatcher (movie critique)

Foxcatcher is a film that draws from real life events and centers around billionaire wrestling benefactor John du Pont and brothers Mark and David Schultz. Set in 1989, both brothers are Olympic champions and Mark is in training for upcoming competitions for the next Olympics. John du Pont takes an interest in Mark (who seems to struggle mentally in this picture) and flies him out to his estate, Foxcatcher, that overlooks Valley Forge. On the premises, du Pont has built a fully equipped gym with state of the art equipment and asks Mark to head up a team of elite wrestlers that will live and train on site for the next Olympic games.

One scene in the movie that is very telling of John's upbringing, is when the team is practicing and John's mother (played by Vanessa Redgrave) comes to the gym to watch what John and the wrestlers are doing. John who has been standing on the sidelines, then makes an attempt to impress her by wrestling with one of the team members. His mother leaves the practice, disgusted with her son, yet again.

John introduces Mark to cocaine and he becomes a regular user and begins a downward spiral. Dave in spite of misgivings, goes to work for du Pond and joins the Foxcatcher team as the new manager. Dave tries to help Mark get his life back under control. As events unfold, du Pont after seeing that Dave can not acknowledge John as a coach and mentor, John begins a slow burn. John calls his bodyguard, drives to Dave Schultz's home and after a short conversation, he pulls out his gun and shoots Dave. John returns to his mansion, where after taking refuge for 2 days he finally surrenders and is arrested.

The Travelling Toe thought this was an interesting movie and the acting by the 3 men was exceptional, Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum. The Travelling Toe did think it was slow moving at times going from scene to scene and was not always clear regarding the events unfolding. The movie also has a grey overtone which matches the grey emotions of the movie.

Steve Carell in a very serious role as John du Pont and did an excellent job. The facial prosthetics helped change his physical features to match those of du Pont.