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Knight at the Movies: Foxcatcher; film notes
by Richard Knight, Jr., for Windy City Times
2014-11-19

This article shared 3936 times since Wed Nov 19, 2014
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Foxcatcher left me feeling tremendously unsettled. It's eerie, pervasive undertone fills one with a sense of dread—not unlike Sean Durkin's Martha, Marcy, Mae, Marlene and Alexandre Moors' Blue Caprice. That's reason enough for a lot of folks to take it in. And the arresting performances of Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, as its three leading characters, certainly help the film live up to its award buzz. But what is this strange, methodical movie really about?

I've been mulling that over for weeks and I'm still not completely sure what Bennett Miller's film, a true-crime psychodrama, is trying to get at—although I have my suspicions. It's so elusive with its chilly, muted approach that it's anybody's guess. Is it the story of the rich preying on the poor? An indictment of America's unspoken caste system? A straightforward reenactment of a bizarre crime, committed by a wealthy psychopath? Or do we have a cautionary tale of an impossibly rich, closeted chicken hawk who murders the brother of his one-time lover, jealous over the brothers' love and devotion for each other?

I think Foxcatcher is all those things but ultimately it's that last element—the queer undertone—that resonated as its true theme. But Miller's movie—scripted by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman—is so ambiguous and chaste about the sexuality of its central figures, the creepy, ultra-rich John du Pont ( Steve Carell, sporting a false beak and dingy teeth ) and the hulking object of his fascination, wrestler Mark Schultz ( Channing Tatum, tremendous and sullen ) that it might pass right over the heads of many in the audience. Here's a movie so repressed and so closeted, it could easily have passed Hollywood's bygone production code. Make no mistake—Foxcatcher is gay, gay, gay.

At the outset of the story we meet Mark, an Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler down on his luck whose life is changed when he receives an invitation to meet du Pont. Flown by helicopter to du Pont's gigantic estate in the Pennsylvania countryside, Schultz happily accepts the strange man's invitation to be a part of a wrestling training facility he's built on the grounds. Looking down his nose ( literally ) at the younger man with his oddly chosen words and stilted speech patterns, du Pont is one of those guys whose personality is so antisocial he makes the geekiest nerd seem like the class president.

Mark basks in the lux lifestyle du Pont offers and quickly becomes the star in a group of other muscle-bound wrestlers training at the center. For a while, the honeymoon is on and Mark quickly succumbs to John's jet-set lifestyle—the cocaine binges and the like ( which incorporate late-night private wrestling "training" sessions du Pont demands ). Soon, Mark is out of shape and losing important matches. Things reach a turning point when du Pont hires Mark's brother, Dave ( Mark Ruffalo, giving his usual expert performance ), to take over coaching duties. This sends Mark—who has always lived in Dave's shadow—into a deep funk.

Dave has arrived just in time to help Mark recover a bit of his stability but by that point something—something unexplained—has occurred between Mark and du Pont. Whatever it is, it's so unforgiveable that Mark won't even speak to du Pont or look at him. Soon, he moves away, leaving brother Dave up to his tragic fate—his inexplicable murder by du Pont. The reasons for the shooting, which might have been due to du Pont's growing paranoia and other oddities, aren't discussed. ( Also, the timeline is truncated, making it seem that Dave's murder might have been triggered by du Pont's blaming Dave for Mark's moving away, although it actually came years later. )

Although Foxcatcher doesn't offer much psychological insight into the crime or its leading characters ( unlike Miller's Capote, which the movie closely resembles visually ), those three stellar performances ( and several excellent supporting ones, including Vanessa Redgrave as du Pont's hated mother ), the movie's carefully controlled visual style, and it's deliberate, horrifyingly fascinating pace are tremendous assets. And the big elephant in the movie—that gay subtext—is certainly something to contemplate long after you've finished watching the movie.

Film notes:

—What's the T?, from filmmaker Cecilio Asuncion, profiles five young transgender females—each with enough sass, heart and bravery for any one documentary. The standout is Cassandra Cass, a larger-than-life ( literally ) showgirl whose razor-sharp wit and down-to-earth sense of self are as thought-provoking as one would expect. The other women profiled—each displaying an abundance of courage and verve—are just as insightful. It's an entertaining and often eye-opening experience. Available on DVD and digital download; http://www.whatsthetfilm.com/

—One would think, in the Internet age, that telephone hotlines would have outlived their usefulness. But the documentary Hotlines, the feature debut of director/producer Tony Shaff, makes a case for their continued importance.

As many in the film point out, there's nothing like the soothing voice of a stranger on the phone when certain psychological conditions need to be sated—a need to get off, a curiosity about one's future and, especially, when one is in emotional freefall. Going behind the scenes of hotlines—from phone-sex operators to teen-suicide prevention to an LGBT center in San Francisco, Shaff's movie illuminates the dedicated volunteers who work these phone centers. Ms. Cleo—a lesbian who is easily the world's most famous telephone psychic, and who came out in 2006—is a central figure in the movie. Whether her psychic gifts were or are real, she's an entertaining addition to the movie. The film is available on iTunes. http://www.hotlinedoc.com/hotlinedoc/home.html

—Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly's documentary The Homestretch—which illuminates the problem of teen homelessness in Chicago by focusing on three of them ( including a feisty, fun lesbian )—returns to the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., for an encore run beginning Friday, Nov. 21. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/homestretch

—In celebration of both Native American Heritage month and transgender awareness, the Chicago Public Library and the Queer Film Society are screening writer-director Sydney Freeland's Drunktown's Finest, the evocative drama of three young, troubled Native Americans, including a promiscuous trans individual. The film had a sold-out screening during the recent Reeling Film Festival. The free screening will be held Tuesday, Nov. 25, at the Sulzer Regional branch, 4455 N. Lincoln Ave., at 6:30 p.m. I'll be introducing the film and leading a post screening talk back. http://www.chipublib.org/locations/38/

Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitymediagroup.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter website.


This article shared 3936 times since Wed Nov 19, 2014
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