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With “Capote,” director Bennett Miller chillingly explored the underbelly of New York’s literati, plumbing the sordid details of Truman Capote’s creation of “In Cold Blood.” With “Moneyball,” Miller went behind the scenes of Major League Baseball’s drafting fraternity, giving insight into the ways capitalism and appearances can trump true talent. Now, with “Foxcatcher,” the filmmaker so adept at turning American institutions on their ears dives into the world of Olympic wrestling, tying his study to the tragic true story of wrestler brothers Mark and Dave Schultz, and Dave’s coach turned murderer, John du Pont.
Just as the eponymous farm — where loaded scion John (Steve Carell) invites Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave (Mark Ruffalo) to train for a supposedly Oympics-bound team — is literally built on the grave-filled battlegrounds of early American battles, “Foxcatcher” plays like a patriotic ghost story. A post-Reagan-era figure of profound delusions, John sees (and cites) his trainees as modern soldiers — patriots who deserve recognition otherwise denied them by their country.
But any goodwill John possesses is trumped by his ever-burgeoning paranoid schizophrenia, the apparent result of his own stifled athletic dreams and, perhaps, repressed sexual appetites. Miller captures all of this in an often silent mode of glorious gloom, wherein every carefully considered frame is fraught with dread. Moreover, he adds his film to the prestigious man-to-man combat canon, filming his subjects in an odd ballet of bodies, which can turn from brotherly to brutal in an imperceptible instant.
Miller has coached at least two actors, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Capote”) and Brad Pitt (“Moneyball”), to deliver the finest performances of their careers. And though much of this film’s buzz highlights the eerie and prosthetic-caked Carell, in “Foxcatcher,” Miller does the same for Tatum, a performer who’s never gone to such raw and shattering places. Merging his “Magic Mike” physicality with an increasingly impressive dramatic range, Tatum officially graduates from box-office draw to bona fide actor, playing a naïve and internally tormented warrior to the hilt. Of all the reasons to see this layered, articulate drama, Tatum’s work stands on top.
Foxcatcher
R
Three-and-a-half reels out of four
Opens tomorrow in limited release
Recommended Rental
“Sin City: A Dame to Kill For”
R
Available Tuesday
In Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s CGI sequel, “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For,” fans won’t get all the greatness they loved about the 2005 original. But they will get a whole lot of returning cast members (like Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson and Mickey Rourke), along with some new blood (like Eva Green, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Josh Brolin). The follow-up weaves together new stories from Miller’s stark world, with plenty of spurting, hyper-saturated plasma.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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