Fantastic Carell offers master class in Foxcatcher

FOXCATCHER (Bennett Miller, US, 2014)

Bennett Miller's third feature based on actual or true stories follows the odd occurence of billionaire eccentric John Du Pont (Steve Carell) funding the Dave and Mark Schultz in the run up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics in pursuit of a Gold medal in Freestyle wrestling, having both won gold medals at the Los Angeles games of 1984.

Mark, convincingly played by the ever improving Channing Tatum, is younger brother to Dave (Mark Ruffalo) the highly respected elder who is both coach, trainer and an accomplished wrestler in his own life.  Post-Olympics you see how even Gold medallists struggle day to day with life going from training session to training session, accepting elementary school speaking engagements for a measly $20.  There is no money once the glory has worn off, and so the promise of a steady income from Du Pont - in this case $25,000 - along with world class facilities and living arrangements is too big of a carrot for Mark to ignore. Team Foxcatcher is born

However, once in the Du Pont circle, things become very psychological between the two as a need for something in the relationship is apparent and something they lack is found. For Du Pont it is esteem from peers and colleagues, having grown up with no friends that his wealthy mother did not pay for; and for Mark the chance to have what resembles a father-son relationship.

Glory comes at the World Championships in France and then Dave with crises all coming to a head in preparation for Seoul, Dave becomes the hand to guide Mark and thus dismissing Du Pont from the circle of trust.  Mark grows resentful of Du Pont and following the Olympics leaves Foxcatcher for Brigham Young University. Dave stays on board as coach for the team but the withdrawl of Mark, Du Pont's ideal man, from his home leads Du Pont to shoot and kill Dave.

Considering the pedestal the United States of America puts its champions and Gold medallists on to during and after their career to this elevated status of immortality, it is surprising that this story involving athletes and billionaires did not garner a documentary or feature film beforehand.  It encompasses those great American traditions - endeavour, wealth and power.

Yet the film which although a great character study in psychological deteoriation and disintegration feels like more an acting showcase for the three fine leads which is let down by some sloppy direction.

This is not to denigrate Mr. Miller who has done some fine work with Capote and Moneyball but he seems to garner great acting performances from his cast and yet he is devoid of any artistic style of his own.  There is no panache or flair with the camera, although the film does not warrant it and no mise-en-scene stylistics with very much an observant camera from the medium distance throughout.  The tone for this film is very grey and unloving, perhaps to reflect the lack of warmth and love in the lives of Du Pont and Mark, the only time colour appears on the screen is when Dave is on screen - from his white trousers of his suit when he arrives at Foxcatcher to his happy BBQ at his home with family and friends in contrast to the drab home of Mark.

Steve Carell more famously known for his comedic roles is amazing in the role of Du Pont, only a comedian could deliver a line like, 'My friends call me Eagle or Golden Eagle', with a straight face and he gets to the core of the character as someone who although powerful and rich is very much unfulfilled. Much like Robin Williams' best dramatic roles, he can find the sorry in the self.

Tatum is continuing this trend of creating a great body of work irrespective of how you feel about his body image and Ruffalo is the calm centre amongs the storm, stooping around the screen and being the equal to Carell.

Foxcatcher is out now in cinemas from Entertainment One.

It garnered Oscar nominations for Best Film, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor (Carell) and Supporting Actor (Ruffalo)

Foxcatcher - Poster breakdown

 

Hot off the heels of the three Golden Globe nominations for the film, Entertainment One UK Ltd is pleased to release the new poster for Foxcatcher above that holds that information in regards to the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations for Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo respectively.

The film is written and directed by Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) and promises to be one of the best dramatic thrillers of recent years with an array of varied acting talent on display.

 

In contrast to the original quad poster, the new poster uses the same three poses of the three leading actors with Carell (the lead nomination) on the right of the poster on his own.  In contrast to the original where Carell's character John Du Pont is firmly entrenched between the two Schultz brothers.  The decision of the placement of the new poster places Du Pont on the right from the Schultz brothers indicating his difference to them and non-relation to the family bond he comes between. And the addition of more colour reminiscent of the Foxcatcher uniforms is better than the drab, greyer original quad where the mood is obviously of more deliberate tone.  The new poster makes you think this film is worth seeing for the acting alone and there might be some colour.

Foxcatcher is released in the UK on January 9th. Watch the trailer below:

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Foxcatcher - New Quad

 

Entertainment One is pleased to release a new Quad poster for the forthcoming release of the highly anticipated Foxcatcher which will be released on 9th January 2015.

The poster tellingly gives attention to the trio of the heralded threesome - Steve Carell (John du Pont), Channing Tatum (Mark Schulz) and Mark Ruffalo (Dave Schulz) - who in the trailer all appear to give career best performances.

From Tatum's sheer intensity and physicality, to Carell's spine-tingling depiction of a conflicted individual to Ruffalo's typically cool performance.

 

Foxcatcher tells the unexpected tale of millionaire benefactor John du Pont, who gave his home to the US Wrestling team in preparation for the Olympics in Atlanta 1996.  However, slowly du Pont's vision for the scheme became odder and slowly a psychological twist about desire and loyalty appears leading to tragic consequences.

Also featured in the trailer was Vanessa Redgrave as du Pont's mother, and also in the film but not featured in the trailer are Sienna Miller as Nancy Schulz, Dave's wife and Anthony Michael Hall, as du Pont's valued assistant.

The film is directed by Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote), a director who is slowly becoming established as one of the finest in the business, when depicting real life events in an entertaining manner.  Miller won the Best Director Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Miller should be applauded for having the gall to cast Steve Carell in a physically different and mentally demanding role showing he can act dramatically as well as be a master of comedy. Credit also to Tatum who nails his most dramatic role to date without resorting to macho histrionics. 

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Thanks For Sharing

Having previously gained some acclaim for his screenplays Keeping The Faith and The Kids Are All Right, Stuart Blumberg was bound to jump into the directing chair sooner than later and here is his debut Thanks For Sharing a somewhat semi-autobiographical tale regarding sex addiction in the city that never sleeps.

A stellar cast combine to create an entertaining comedy drama that focuses on the crippling nature of sexual addiction and how the mantra of one day at a time is important.

Adam (Mark Ruffalo) has been sober of sex for seven years.  He is a well adjusted professional with a phone from the late 1990s to avoid the images of pornography so apparent and available in the social media, even when he is in hotel rooms on business he asks for the television to be removed from his room to save himself. 

Adam meets Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), the girl of his dreams who is everything he imagines and wants to be with; yet his close group friend Mike (Tim Robbins) says he will have to come clean eventually about his addictive past, considering Phoebe discloses her ex was an alcoholic and she is recovering from breast cancer.

The contrasting storyline concerns a young doctor Neil (Josh Gad) who is suffering severely with his sexual addiction, it is affecting his performance at work where he is fired for putting a camera on his shoe so he can see up his bosses skirt.  Neil needs help and starts taking the group therapy seriously with the introduction of Dede (Pink under her real name, Alecia Moore), a young female who lost her best friend after sleeping with her best friend's father.

Mike himself has a storyline with the return of his troubled son, Danny (Patrick Fugit) a junkie who used to steal from his home and they kicked out until he was clean.  Danny comes home and both he and Mike start to see each other in a different light until old wounds start to resurface including Mike's own sexual and alcohol addiction.

The film in the first half is really entertaining with a breeziness of dialogue and delivery helped by the expert performances of the experienced actors; however in the second half the film slowly becomes a little bit too dramatic for its own good.  A fault that could have been aimed at the same writer for his Keeping The Faith screenplay where the running time was too long and he was not too sure where to take it.

A fault to find with the film is that the ensemble is too many with female characters especially somewhat restricted by their roles as either faithful wife, trophy girlfriend and bad girl.  At the start when Adam talks to Neil about not taking the subway (so he avoids grinding up against women) and get rid of his porn collection, you wish for the film to have a somewhat satiricial or perhaps critical eye on the proliferation of sexual images in the everyday media; after a break-up with Phoebe, Adam sees a picture of a runner in a magazine and immediately collates that image with Phoebe which throws him off the deep end. 

When Adam does go dark, Ruffalo comes to the fore as a good actor but he is oddly shown up by Emily Meade in the role of Becky, a former conquest of Adam who has severe Daddy issues.  Becky's issues are in sharp contrast to Adam who quickly reverts to his saintly role and there is always someone in a worse state than you.  Becky is not aware of her problem and is probably reluctant to seek help due to the subsequent stigmatism by her peers, but maybe that is the message of the film, the help is available to those who need it and seek it.

The criticism of the ensemble comes to the fore in the problematic role of Tim Robbins' character Mike.  Is he the father figure to Adam even though they are 10 years apart in age roughly and his back story is not really developed nor explored until he and Danny separate causing some wobbly camerawork when Mike sees some alcohol.

A better film would have been a bro-mance drama between Ruffalo and Gad, the age gap is wide enough for it to be a surrogate big brother role even a father figure role.  Gad also has natural comic talents (fat man on a bike, fat man in leotards) and his charm is enthused by the chemistry with Moore in the significant role of Dede; Gad has the funniest lines and you wonder what sort of film it might have been if that editing process had occurred.

However, it is refreshing to see such an open and honest film in regards to the sensitive nature of sexual addiction.  There are some obstacles and hoops the actors have to jump through, but it is a solid ensemble effort by all and one that does hold your attention in part due to the performances and not the direction.

Thanks For Sharing is out on Friday 4th October