It’s always strange to me how some films about a real life topic, where the ending is known can still bring about feelings of tension and dread and make you nervous to watch them.  I’ve had that experience many times it seems and especially with recent films like United 93 and Zero Dark Thirty.  I had that same reaction to Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, a movie that almost painstakingly takes you frame by frame to a dramatic conclusion.

If you know anything about the real life events then the plot is no mystery to you but if you come in unaware the movie tells the story of eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont who sets up a wrestling academy and over the course of his time houses Olympic medalist brothers Mark and David Schultz.  We first meet Mark Schultz, played by Channing Tatum, as a lonely figure, speaking to uninterested elementary school assemblies and drifting along.  He meets up with his brother David, played by Mark Ruffalo, and an incredibly intimate scene starts of these two going through their paces on a wrestling mat.  Without any speech, without any dialogue their bond and relationship is explained.  Through grunts and movements we see how these two are similar and yet very different men.  There are a variety of scenes like this in Foxcatcher where Miller allows his actors to use quiet and restraint to tell their stories.  By the time we meet du Pont, played by Steve Carell, it’s understood that we’re in for a showcase for each of these actors and you almost feel like a clock has started to a fate that is undeniable.

The acting in this movie is superb.  Channing Tatum is all physicality and unpredictability as he moves through scenery with shoulders hunched and an uneven gate.  He’s driven to this thing, this status, to the American dream of being the best and doing anything to achieve it.  Steve Carell plays du Pont obviously with prosthetic assistance which might be too much for some but as jarring as that can be on the outside it’s what he’s doing quietly and inwardly that is his best work to date.  We all see the small man trying to be someone he’s not but Carell never allows his character to realize it.  There’s damage to du Pont that we only get a glimpse of but even that small scene says it all.  Mark Ruffalo is almost forgotten due to the more showy performance by his costars but it’s really Ruffalo who grounds the movie and gives it all of his empathy and feeling.  There’s a physicality to his performance as well that is understated and quiet and enthralling.

I’ve used the word “quiet” many times and on purpose, because so much of this film is played quietly and in silences but Miller uses all of that to increase the sense of dread and danger around these men.  As du Pont starts to become more erratic and the brothers start to see the cracks, we as an audience can feel the movie sharpen and still itself for the eventual conclusion.  The events are known, but it doesn’t make them any less jarring and as the movie came to a close I couldn’t help but let a sigh of relief, almost that I had survived.  Slow and deliberate, Foxcatcher is an excellent showcase for these actors and ultimately for an excellent director like Bennett Miller.

Recommend? One of the best movies I saw this year, might be too slow for some but go see it and decide for yourself.