Every now and then, an actor may give a performance that demonstrates a true ability to adapt and change their repertoire in a major way. Matthew McConaughey did it with Mud, Jim Carrey did it with The Truman Show and Steve Carell has definitely done that with Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher. Miller has been known to get great dramatic performances out of unlikely actors, most notably his transformation of Jonah Hill in Moneyball. With that in mind, does Steve Carell's latest performance reflect in the quality of the film?
Foxcatcher is based on the true story of two brothers, Mark and David Schultz, played by Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo respectively; they are both 1984 gold medalists in Olympic Wrestling. Mark is a solitary man who is overshadowed by his brothers past successes but when John Du Pont, a billionaire philanthropist and wrestling enthusiast (played by Steve Carell) calls him and invites him to join his private wrestling team, entitled 'Team Foxcatcher'. Mark can not resist the money and promptly heads to Du Pont's estate to train. However, Du Pont's intense desire to get Mark's brother involved in the team creates an uneasiness between all three men, which eventually leads to disaster…
To start, Bennett Miller's direction is full of very interesting choices, providing different perspectives on events that other directors would not necessarily consider; from strange use of blur, to unusual lighting choices and shots that may seem unnecessary to the film, Miller actually create this real sense of anticipation that something will happen, but no one can predict what it is. The use of sound is very interesting at points, with Bennett frequently favouring silence and isolation over traditional sound. There is a great feeling of loneliness in Miller's direction of Mark's character; the film never eases away from his slow, detached mindset and a lot of that is down to a very good performance from Channing Tatum. After a year of comedy and animation, Tatum has toned down his performance hugely, creating a vulnerable, unpredictable but hugely driven character. There is a history between Mark and his brother and both Tatum and Ruffalo beautifully convey this tricky, rough-road relationship.
The absolute best performance of the film goes to Mark Ruffalo, who definitely has the hardest job in terms of range. David Schultz is a multilayered character with responsibilities, desires, stresses and a very difficult younger brother to deal with. Ruffalo gives the most human performance of the movie with a great tenderness combined with a natural charisma that would motivate anyone to be their best. As the film progresses, David's character undergoes some serious stresses due to the tension between himself, Mark and John. Ruffalo beautifully handles the responsibility of being the story's voice of reason, even though his character does not have half as much dialogue as the other leading actors. It is an outstanding supporting performance from a criminally underrated actor.
Steve Carell is the one getting all the attention for this film and it's not hard to see why. His transformation in to John Du Pont is terrifying; from his prosthetic nose to his fake teeth, everything about Carell's performance screams a desire to push away from his typical niche films. While his performance in this film is very one-dimensional, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Carell has pulled back on everything he's known for; his rubbery facial expression are simplified to the bare minimum smirks, straight faces and a very occasional laugh. While on most other actors this would seem bland, Bennett Miller has inspired a great performance out of Carell that may remind some of Jake Gyllenhaal's performance in Nightcrawler, with subtlety being the name of the game. While in my opinion Gyllenhaal is far superior in doing so, Carell has definitely shown a new side to his acting ability and, like McConaughey and Carrey, it can open up some new doors for him to truly expand on his impressive work here.
The main negative of this film is the pacing in the first half. With the opening act focusing solely of Mark story, there is a lot of downtime in this film; with the first 20 minutes or so having no music, barely any sound and a dim lighting style, it sets a very singular and monotonous tone that does harm the film. In spite of great performances by the leads, the story does not give us enough reason to care about them for an irritatingly long time, with most of the first half following stress, training sequences and some strenuously long sequences about irrelevant subjects such as birds, horses and tanks. The story essentially follows 3 guys that can't seem to connect emotionally, and when the entire first half of a 2+ hour movie is devoted to this uneasiness, with maybe one or two lighter scenes, the anticipation does wear off after a while.
However from the moment physicality is brought out between our main characters, with what I can only describe as the best slap in cinema this past year, the second half of the story becomes a very well done and tense build, using the sport of wrestling to beautifully convey emotional conflict outside the sport. The direction picks up with beautifully shot scenes including a great moment with Mark training on an exercise bike. The final 5 minute scene makes the whole build feel somewhat worth it, but the pacing overall is just too slow to truly appreciate the brilliant performances from Tatum, Carell and Ruffalo.
The soundtrack was definitely underused as well with several scenes feeling like they should have had music to guide them; what we got though was a number of scenes coming across as awkward and bland. While silence in moderation is always welcome, I think a more prominent soundtrack would have benefited this movie. If you want a fantastic example of a movie with hardly any music and not much in the way of sound, I would recommend No Country for Old Men.
Overall this film could definitely have been a lot better had the running time been cut quite a bit. The performances of the lead actors are all brilliant and are worth seeing, but the pacing does harm the emotional connection to the actors, until the second half which does pick up greatly. I would definitely say this is worth seeing for the strong acting and quality direction. Fans of long tension buildups from start to finish will likely find some enjoyment, but not much else stands out here.
Foxcatcher is based on the true story of two brothers, Mark and David Schultz, played by Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo respectively; they are both 1984 gold medalists in Olympic Wrestling. Mark is a solitary man who is overshadowed by his brothers past successes but when John Du Pont, a billionaire philanthropist and wrestling enthusiast (played by Steve Carell) calls him and invites him to join his private wrestling team, entitled 'Team Foxcatcher'. Mark can not resist the money and promptly heads to Du Pont's estate to train. However, Du Pont's intense desire to get Mark's brother involved in the team creates an uneasiness between all three men, which eventually leads to disaster…
To start, Bennett Miller's direction is full of very interesting choices, providing different perspectives on events that other directors would not necessarily consider; from strange use of blur, to unusual lighting choices and shots that may seem unnecessary to the film, Miller actually create this real sense of anticipation that something will happen, but no one can predict what it is. The use of sound is very interesting at points, with Bennett frequently favouring silence and isolation over traditional sound. There is a great feeling of loneliness in Miller's direction of Mark's character; the film never eases away from his slow, detached mindset and a lot of that is down to a very good performance from Channing Tatum. After a year of comedy and animation, Tatum has toned down his performance hugely, creating a vulnerable, unpredictable but hugely driven character. There is a history between Mark and his brother and both Tatum and Ruffalo beautifully convey this tricky, rough-road relationship.
The absolute best performance of the film goes to Mark Ruffalo, who definitely has the hardest job in terms of range. David Schultz is a multilayered character with responsibilities, desires, stresses and a very difficult younger brother to deal with. Ruffalo gives the most human performance of the movie with a great tenderness combined with a natural charisma that would motivate anyone to be their best. As the film progresses, David's character undergoes some serious stresses due to the tension between himself, Mark and John. Ruffalo beautifully handles the responsibility of being the story's voice of reason, even though his character does not have half as much dialogue as the other leading actors. It is an outstanding supporting performance from a criminally underrated actor.
Steve Carell is the one getting all the attention for this film and it's not hard to see why. His transformation in to John Du Pont is terrifying; from his prosthetic nose to his fake teeth, everything about Carell's performance screams a desire to push away from his typical niche films. While his performance in this film is very one-dimensional, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Carell has pulled back on everything he's known for; his rubbery facial expression are simplified to the bare minimum smirks, straight faces and a very occasional laugh. While on most other actors this would seem bland, Bennett Miller has inspired a great performance out of Carell that may remind some of Jake Gyllenhaal's performance in Nightcrawler, with subtlety being the name of the game. While in my opinion Gyllenhaal is far superior in doing so, Carell has definitely shown a new side to his acting ability and, like McConaughey and Carrey, it can open up some new doors for him to truly expand on his impressive work here.
The main negative of this film is the pacing in the first half. With the opening act focusing solely of Mark story, there is a lot of downtime in this film; with the first 20 minutes or so having no music, barely any sound and a dim lighting style, it sets a very singular and monotonous tone that does harm the film. In spite of great performances by the leads, the story does not give us enough reason to care about them for an irritatingly long time, with most of the first half following stress, training sequences and some strenuously long sequences about irrelevant subjects such as birds, horses and tanks. The story essentially follows 3 guys that can't seem to connect emotionally, and when the entire first half of a 2+ hour movie is devoted to this uneasiness, with maybe one or two lighter scenes, the anticipation does wear off after a while.
However from the moment physicality is brought out between our main characters, with what I can only describe as the best slap in cinema this past year, the second half of the story becomes a very well done and tense build, using the sport of wrestling to beautifully convey emotional conflict outside the sport. The direction picks up with beautifully shot scenes including a great moment with Mark training on an exercise bike. The final 5 minute scene makes the whole build feel somewhat worth it, but the pacing overall is just too slow to truly appreciate the brilliant performances from Tatum, Carell and Ruffalo.
The soundtrack was definitely underused as well with several scenes feeling like they should have had music to guide them; what we got though was a number of scenes coming across as awkward and bland. While silence in moderation is always welcome, I think a more prominent soundtrack would have benefited this movie. If you want a fantastic example of a movie with hardly any music and not much in the way of sound, I would recommend No Country for Old Men.
Overall this film could definitely have been a lot better had the running time been cut quite a bit. The performances of the lead actors are all brilliant and are worth seeing, but the pacing does harm the emotional connection to the actors, until the second half which does pick up greatly. I would definitely say this is worth seeing for the strong acting and quality direction. Fans of long tension buildups from start to finish will likely find some enjoyment, but not much else stands out here.