Film No. 5 (2015) Foxcatcher. January 24th.

Film No. 5 (2015) January 24th.  10.30 AM LUNA Leederville. 

   

"Hope? It doesn't matter. I'm glad you have your trophy. It can go in the trophy room, not in the Rosemont Case. I don't like wrestling, as you know. It's a low sport and I don't like to see you being low."

 

Foxcatcher

Bennett Miller is becoming a master of transposing a true life sporting story to the cinema screen. He does it in a way that the action of the sport is a "bit player" compared to the human drama that smolders then flares revealing the real roots of the legendary event. He did it with efficiency in Moneyball and now he does it with powerful dexterity in Foxcatcher.

Steve Carell plays John du Pont a troubled, wealthy tycoon with a passion for wrestling. du Pont has a vision that will allow the best wrestlers in the U.S. to come to his academy (Foxcatcher) on his ranch in Pennsylvania. Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), the U.S.'s most recent gold medalist (L.A. Olympics 1984) becames du Pont's first target. Schultz breaks from the mentorship of his brother Dave and joins du Pont at Foxcatcher which eventually leads to a chain of unharmonious events culminating finally in tragedy.

The film is played out in two halves. The first establishes du Pont's relationship with Mark Schultz which builds more via the silences than the series of philosophical one liners recited by du Pont remembering how pleasing his overbearing mother (Vanessa Redgrave) weighed on his shoulders. In the second half the tensions that stretch the personalities of du Pont and Schultz, of the Mark variety, once brother Dave becomes head coach at Foxcatcher come into play.

In an interview, Bennett Miller talked about there being no spoilers with regard to the cinematic retelling of this story. One only has to go to the internet to find profiles of his subjects. His aim was to create through authentic characterization an un-nerving atmosphere surrounding the circumstances which depict this true event. He nailed it for me. Steve Carell is particularly un-nerving. 10GUMS