Thoughts on the movie 'Foxcatcher'

We went to see the movie 'Foxcatcher' on a recent afternoon.  The movie is directed by Bennett Miller (who won the Palm d'Or at Cannes for best direction) from a script written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman.  It stars Steve Carell as John Eleuthere du Pont, Channing Tatum as Mark Schultz, Mark Ruffalo as David Schultz, and Vanessa Redgrave as Jean Liseter Austin du Pont.

The poster for 'Foxcatcher'

This is a seriously weird movie.  John du Pont, a descendant of the du Pont Chemical family, is portrayed as an arrogant nut job who decides to devote his life and fortune to the U.S.A. wrestling team as it prepares for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.  He befriends Mark Schultz a wrestler who won a gold medal winner at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and convinces him to come to the du Pont family's Foxcatcher Farm to train.  John also tries to persuade Mark's older brother, David, also an Olympic medalist to come to Foxcatcher, but David initially rejects the offer.  David is married and has two children.  He has basically raised Mark after their parents divorced when Mark was just two years old.

John has issues with his mother.  He counters her love of thoroughbred horses with his devotion to wrestling, which she feels is 'low'.  John also has an unhealthy interest in law enforcement and weapons.

The movie is basically a love triangle between John and Mark and David.  The homoerotic undertones run throughout the story mostly in the form of men wrestling.  John tries to supplant David in Mark's life -- offering him money and cocaine as well as friendship and guidance.  When David finally comes to Foxcatcher, John and David vie for Mark's affection while Mark tries to sort out his confused feelings for them.

Steve Carell's bizarre performance, complete with prosthetic facial transformation, will surely net him an Oscar nomination (the Academy has a thing for fake noses).  For me, the more engaging performance is Mark Ruffalo's as David.  Although Vanessa Redgrave has very few scenes, she is vivid as John's mother.  Channing Tatum in the central role of the hapless Mark is a cipher -- probably intentionally malleable and unformed.