Wrestling With 'Foxcatcher' Film Review

 

Two weeks ago, I made time to see "Foxcatcher" on the big screen in Chicago. And for days since, the film left me grappling for words to review it. Boiling it down in a few questions:

Is the film well made? Yes.

Does the acting and storytelling live up to the hype of film festival and other critical reviews? Mostly.

Will "Foxcatcher" be an Oscar contender? Maybe.

And do I recommend this film to others? Well, sort of.

After months of waiting and careful travel planning to see "Foxcatcher" -- on theatre screens in only a few cities until later this month -- I pinned hopes very high, elevating the true crime drama to "must see" status for several weeks.

Though I do think audiences will flock and rave about "Foxcatcher," and it is worthy of high praise, it did not live up to the must experience level of expectations this writer set for it. It is a great match of writing, acting and mood-setting cinematography, yes. But I walked away wanting something more.

It's definitely not a "feel good" film; in fact, one critic described "Foxcatcher" as the perhaps "the feel-bad movie of the year" -- a distinction also appropriate for "Gone Girl," which I enjoyed twice in spite of its dark and twisted themes.

By comparison, "Foxcatcher" is not a film that left me thinking or saying "I want to see that again" and though it's likely I'll watch it a second time, it's not likely I'd pay a second or third time (for this writer, a gauge of any film's "must see" status is the desire to repeat screenings with friends or family).

What's to like about Foxcatcher?

The Acting:

Steve Carell portrays John du Pont with vigor, becoming the deranged killer in a manner reminiscent of Jack Nicholson in "The Shining," with Carell's eyes taking on a lunatic gaze with great effect.

According to press materials for the film, Carell and his cast mates had an unusually long range of time, and volumes of material including video, to research their characters.

The three main actors' investment of time in thorough research pays off big time in "Foxcatcher."

Channing Tatum equally took on the many layers of Mark Schultz and the many "chips on his

shoulder" I found to be part of the Olympic gold medalist's autobiography on which "Foxcatcher" is generally based. As in the book, on screen here's a guy with a lot going for him but a background that made him his own worst enemy. It is interesting to me that Tatum described Mark Schultz in a manner on par with  my book review of "Foxcatcher" and its author.

"I don’t think anybody could punish Mark more than he could himself and I think he hardens himself against the world by punishing himself," said Tatum, in the film press release, an apt statement.

Throughout the story, Mark Ruffalo slowly and expertly gains the audience's love and admiration --

as did the real-life Dave Schultz -- which makes the on-screen murder scene all the more appalling. Many in the theatre cried out in shock or dismay with Carell's delivery of du Pont's final words to his victim, "You got a problem with me?"

Viewers get a deep dose of the brotherly love between David and Mark, and the unique paternal role the older brother played in their shared experiences. This is Ruffalo's best work I've seen, and it is worth the price of admission to learn more about the person the elder Schultz was (there's a lot to be learned from Mark as well).

The Action:

The team from "Foxcatcher" did their homework on Olympic freestyle wrestling and it shows. Before a summer 1995 internship at USA Wrestling, I knew next to nothing about the sport (and still have lots to learn).

But even with limited recollection of the official sport and its scoring, the wrestling in "Foxcatcher" seems real because it is real. From a U.S. Olympic Committee blog post -- a personal review by my former USA Wrestling boss -- I learned the lengths to which the filmmakers engaged the sport's national governing body for expert input and authenticity. It is fun to spot cameos by Olympic wrestlers including Bruce Baumgartner, Mark Schultz (the real one) and others on screen, and I suspect in their time working out or training Ruffalo and Tatum they also gave insight to the Schultz routine and their POV on du Pont.

"Foxcatcher" also includes brief glimpses at Modern Pentathlon, Olympic-style shooting and the

world of championship show horses. A favorite non-wrestling scene includes Carell's portrayal of du Pont reacting to his mother's death by casting out her prized equine collection, again with a creepy and somber intensity that nails it.

Back on the wrestling mats, I enjoyed the authentic scenes showcasing the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic experience and Seoul 1988 Olympic trials and competitions right down to the bunting and uniforms. Though executed on screen with timing tweaks different from Schultz's book, the events are intense and well-played.

What's not to like about the movie, and answering the question, "Do you have a problem with me [the film]?" Yes, for this Olympic blogger there were some problems with "Foxcatcher."

• I wasn't keen on how the filmmakers addressed cocaine use by du Pont and Mark Schultz, whose book mentions this topic with some explanation. The filmmakers took a lot of liberties and changed the context of the drug use, not for the better.
• This inaccurate depiction of a junkie Mark, blended with an autobiography-text-turned-into
  
  screenplay scene describing a haircut Shultz gave du Pont, set up some shots that ever-so-subtly make a case that the coach and athlete duo had a more intimate or even a gay kinship. This seemed to stray way too far from the facts described in Schultz's true text.
• Though necessary to condense the story, I wasn't crazy about the abbreviated timeline of events. Mark Schultz exited Team Foxcatcher just after 1988, and Dave died in early 1996, but the film does a mash-up of these distant events that was artistically decent but bothersome for me (if going for accuracy on the wrestling mat, why not replicate the accuracy in timing?).
• In spite of input from award-winning musicians including Mychael Danna ("Life of Pi"), the "Foxcatcher" soundtrack selections made no impression for this viewer; seemed like a missed opportunity to engage composers with strong Olympic and/or sad soundtrack creds (think John Williams and "Munich" or "Schindler's List" themes and his other five-ringed compositions).

The official film press kit for notes the director, Bennett Miller, says of "Foxcatcher" and his other true crime works "Capone" and "Moneyball," (the latter of which I admired), "It's fact to fiction as a vehicle back to the truth." O.K., fine. But what about "the truth is stranger than fiction" as food for thought?

Should folks see "Foxcatcher?" Yes. It is a solid film.

Just don't go into the theatre pinning hopes too high for the experience.

Images via Sony Pictures Classics

Follow Up Note (December 27, 2014): Upon viewing "Foxcatcher" for the second time today, I'm writing to amend previous remarks about the music. While I stand by my previous comment that a John Williams composition may have been appropriate, I did pay closer attention to -- and enjoy more -- the Mychael Danna works that unfurl between long silences of the film. There's some strong, albeit somber, piano notes that set the tone for many scenes. As in "The Ice Storm" -- another dark film for which Danna contributed music -- this film is served well by its score.
 

 

Crazy Like A Foxcatcher

With all the recent buzz for the L.A. and NYC big screen debuts of "Foxcatcher," it's challenging to hurry up and wait for the highly acclaimed film to reach my hometown theatres.

The reviews in The New York Times, USA Today and other sources do entice. And new videos showcasing Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum look like this Olympic film will be talked about through Oscar season and beyond.

But this post is more about the recently released book on which the silver screen "Foxcatcher" is based.

Written by Mark Schultz with David Thomas, under the full title "Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold," this autobiography reached bookstores in tandem with the film's initial limited theatrical release. The review copy provided by the publisher, Dutton, was a compelling read though it left me with a few tricky takeaways that made it a "good" book but not "great."

The biggest theme I found, though not sure it was intended by the author, is that Mark Schultz has lived a life with dozens of chips on his shoulder. Whether describing the hardscrabble California childhood of Mark and his older brother, Dave, or taking readers through phases of Mark's wrestling competitions and career, the commonality from scene to scene is, "here's a guy with a lot of potential who is also his own worst enemy."

In both professional and personal, educational and athletic scenarios, over and over the younger Schultz seemed to make decisions that undermined his potential. While reading a few passages, I wondered aloud, "how did this guy become Olympic champion with so many self-imposed hurdles?" (The answer is on the pages in the writer's detailed descriptions of his hard work, steadfast motivation to win, and encouragement from coaches and fellow athletes, most notably Dave.)

A reveal the author experimented with cocaine, with the man pinned as his career nemesis, raised my eyebrows. Not sure many other Olympic champions dared used this drug ... ever.

Another theme is family politics. Though it is clear Mark loved his brother and consistently looked up to Dave, this admiration was too often tethered to a brotherly jealousy. In many scenes, Mark's words portray an envy of Dave's ability to project a "good son/better athlete/can-do-no-wrong" persona -- a man who died knowing 10,000 'best friends' -- leaving Mark to paint himself as the family's black sheep.

Heavy doses of both the "chip on shoulder" and "family politics" themes also play out on the pages dedicated to describing John du Pont. Here's a guy who, from page one, was clearly bat shit crazy or walking atop the Crazy Town fence for a long time. But to what extent was his lunatic mental state fueled by his own dueling demons of "chip on shoulder" and the politics of his family name? The book presents examples for both.

Don't forget the cocaine. And there's one revelation in the book "Foxcatcher" mentioning du Pont's admission he also took daily doses of testosterone, the result of an unfortunate horse riding incident. Who knows what chemical cocktail coursed through du Pont on January 26, 1996.

"Foxcatcher" opens on that day and the moment of Dave's murder (via du Pont's .44 magnum revolver), followed by two parts, "Making A Champion" and "Destroying A Champion." The author describes his own path to Olympic glory but also elements of his brother's success story juxtaposed with du Pont's silver-spooned sports journey. I found the first half of the book interesting, with an appropriate level of detail, but also somewhat repetitive. Person X wronged me (Mark), I brooded, I wrestled, I won, Dave won, attention from me diverted, chip on shoulder, reflection and explanation, then person Y wronged me ... repeat sequence.

Scenes describing the brothers' victories at Los Angeles in 1984 offer a too-brief peek into the Games experience for both Champions. The "Golden Moment" chapter opens with a couple of pages of historic context that, for me, was not written in Mark's voice, but much of the chapter later describes the author's first person accounts of navigating the Olympic credentialing process, Olympic Village setting, his team's move to Motel 6 (to be closer to the wrestling venue, Anaheim Convention Center) many matches and his victory for Olympic gold.

His mom's playful but ill-timed invitation to Disneyland -- an athlete family perk -- is priceless. A victory parade car ride with Mary Lou Retton is another fun moment in detail.

As an Oklahoman, I appreciated Mark's take on his experiences living and wrestling in the state, and his departure from Oklahoma City brought this reader a smile (similar to Schultz's exit on I-40 westbound, more than once I've pulled off the highway to soak in the OKC skyline and reflect on time lived there).

Latter chapters of Part One set the scene of Mark's mid-1980s introduction to du Pont's "Foxcatcher" estate near Philadelphia, with many red flags revealed as Schultz settles in to a dream job later deemed a bait-and-switch. Schultz does not mince words with his disdain for then-leadership of USA Wrestling or several Pennsylvania institutions (local law enforcement, universities and museums), portrayed as eager Romulus and Remus-like figures suckling du Pont's multi-million-dollar she-wolf teats (my words, not those of Schultz/Thomas).

Part Two delivers more of a page-turning reader experience. Schultz describes the arc of his Foxcatcher tenure that crescendos and crashes with a thud at the Seoul 1988 Olympics. Sadly absent from Schultz's Olympic return was his "do or die" pre-1984 spirit, replaced with an eagerness to flip the bird to most of the folks who helped him get to Korea (with du Pont providing most of the shoulder chips).

The book also delivers through a researched timeline of events before and after du Pont shot Dave, the court proceedings that followed and some curious reveals on Mark's post-Olympic career on and mostly off the wrestling mat. Mark shares a touching and eerily apt story from Dave's childhood, as told by their father during his son's funeral, which is a poignant takeaway from the pages of "Foxcatcher."

It will be interesting to see how this book, marketed as "True Crime" versus a sports story, got transformed for the silver screen. It's a good read while awaiting the theatrical version, and no-doubt will serve as a reference point for discussion as the film gains more views.

Image of John du Pont via this site; Foxcatcher cover image via Dutton; 1984 photo via this site; Rome sculpture image via Wikipedia.

Support Wrestling Via Ebay

Happy to read via NBCSports.com there's a set of Ebay auctions underway in support of Olympic wrestling's attempt to return to the 2020 Olympic schedule.

Readers may recall my initial (and ongoing) frustration the IOC voted out wrestling in the first place.

Glancing at the Ebay listings -- which include an experience with Jay Leno, training sessions with celebrity athletes and (according to the NBC post) a Rio de Janiero 2016 Olympic VIP trip -- looks like USA Wrestling is the benefactor of the fundraising auctions.

Consider a bid! Pin it to win it!

Photo via this link

Team USA Softball Playing Hardball with Top Player

Still in the Midwest/Southwest, my dad and I took in a game at the World Cup of Softball VII event in Oklahoma City's ASA Hall of Fame Stadium yesterday. Good times!

Though the 90 degree noon game (Canada vs. Puerto Rico) had just a few hundred shade-seeking fans, when I returned to the evening USA vs. Australia match the stands were packed, good for the female sport and supporters working hard since 2008 to bring softball back into the Olympics.

Softball/baseball is up against wrestling and squash to get on the Olympic roster for the 2020 Games.

Driving to the stadium, my dad and I talked briefly about our take on which sport is worthy of five-ringed status. For this blogger, softball is a great sport, but wrestling never should have come out of the Olympic roster in the first place (as it is an ancient sport of strength while the ball and stick games are more of a modern thing). But I do also think softball is worthy of the upgrade -- it was cool to see Team USA players around town in Athens in 2004.

Sadly, the powers that be at the ASA may have shot themselves in the foot, according to a Daily Oklahoman sports column describing the runaround, sans bases, for the woman who is arguably the sports greatest player this year. Seems like a risky tactic for the Team USA decision makers to take on the eve of the IOC's vote for one sport to gain or regain Olympic status.

Photo by Nicholas Wolaver

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

One of my favorite scenes in the Hitchcock classic "Vertigo" features Jimmy Stewart's on-screen girlfriend unveiling a comical self-portrait. He hates it -- does not think it's funny -- and walks out on her. And as she sits alone contemplating his reaction, the woman grafittis her own painting, screaming, "Stupid! Stupid ... Stupid!" 

To the International Olympic Committee, who today voted to exclude Olympic wrestling (both freestyle and Greco-Roman) from the 2020 summer Olympics, my thoughts echo those of Olympic historian David Wallechinsky quoted in The New York Times. STUPID!

FUCKING STUPID!

I think the IOC will regret this decision for many years. Today's vote is like painting grafitti on their own image.

According to Around The Rings, the aforementioned NYTimes.com story, and other sports news sites, the IOC is defending its choice as a vote for other sports (rather than a vote against wrestling). The IOC says it wants to be "hip" and "with-it" (insert Dr. Evil voice here) and go with sports that appeal to a younger audience.

HELLO! Wresting is an ancient sport with millions of fans worldwide! It's also a sport in which a diverse array of nations qualified and medalled! It's been on the Olympic competition schedule for every modern Olympiad and ancient Olympiad. Olympic wrestling exemplifies the "stronger" portion of the Olympic Motto.

It's as though the IOC pulled a wrestling move -- the "insert head into anus" technique -- to exclude wrestling for 2020.

Fortunately, the voting members do have the option to dislodge craniums from sphincters at a May 2013 meeting, during which their vote may be overturned. I hope FILA, USA Wrestling and other wrestling NOCs may rally and get this mistake vote quickly erased from IOC history. 

I don't mean to be luddite about the IOC's decision -- innovation is good. But nixing wrestling from the Olympic program is not innovative. It's ridiculous.

I want them to be lutte-ite.

Here's one way those who agree may help -- check out the Keep Wrestling In The Olympics page on Facebook, and send your thoughts to the IOC. What bone-head move will they think of next?

UPDATE ON SEPTEMBER 8, 2013: Thank heavens, the IOC corrected its mistake and reinstated Olympic Wrestling through a vote held in Buenos Aires. Whew! Congratulations to FILA, USA Wrestling and all the wrestling fans for their hard work to pin this inclusion of the ancient Olympic sport in future Olympiads. USA Today published a good summary of these developments for wrestling, softball/baseball and squash.

Photo via Associated Press at this link

Dreamboat Annie

The rockin' sister duo Heart -- seen here with a cover shot by Annie Leibovitz circa 1980 -- has long been one of my favorite bands. I lose track -- either Heart or Don Henley provided my first outdoor rock concert experience (both played the glorious Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre during 1990), each serving as an upgrade follow-up to Janet Jackson's big show at the Myriad Convention Center that summer of 1990. Good times!

Though "Dreamboat Annie" is a great Heart tune, this blog entry is not really about music. The song's title is just a pseudo-clever starting point for another thread of Olympic connections that goes something like this:

Ann & Nancy Wilson -- Heart -- "Dreamboat Annie" -- Rolling Stone magazine -- Heart photo on cover of Rolling Stone (thanks, Google) -- cover photo by Annie Leibovitz -- Annie Leibovitz portrait photos -- Annie Leibovitz Olympic Project for Atlanta's 1996 Olympic Games -- Annie Leibovitz back in Atlanta on Dec. 10, 2008.

(The thread could also spin off, I suppose, with references to "It's A Hard-Knock Life" and such, but I digress.)

Last night in Atlanta, former Rolling Stone photographer Annie Leibovitz was in town showcasing her latest Random House book titled "Annie Leibovitz At Work" to a packed house in the cavernous main gymnasium of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA).

To me it was fitting that the world-famous photographer took the stage in a gym, since more than one segment of her live presentation (complete with wall-sized projections of some of her most famous photographs) referenced work with Olympic athletes.

Before delving into Leibovitz's presentation (see video), some notes about the book:

"Annie Leibovitz At Work" just hit bookstore shelves and includes 230 or so pages with about one iconic image for every three pages of text written from conversations Leibovitz shared with the book's editor, Sharon DeLano (though the text is written first person, I suspect DeLano did the lion's share of writing as, in person, Leibovitz seems to be a woman of few yet thoughtful words).

Of course, the book includes the famous images of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the Rolling Stones, a rose-covered Bette Midler, Meryl Streep, Whoopi Goldberg (in milk-filled bathtub), Demi Moore and Queen Elizabeth. Also featured are some stunning aerial shots of Monument Valley, dramatic war images from Sarajevo (site of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games -- one shot near the city's Olympic stadium included) and interesting family portraits that give some ideas for capturing loved ones on film during the holidays ... though none will be taken involving bathtubs full of milk). The accompanying text provides some brief or personal stories behind each image, or some general comments or tips on photographic technique. It's a fast read -- three Olympians appear (Carl Lewis, Evander Holyfield and Charles Austin).

So, back to Annie Leibovitz's presentation.

Leibovitz admitted in so many words that she is not a natural born public speaker. She shared some prepared remarks as an introduction before spending most of the event seated in a leather chair and reading directly from the text.

I was surprised and delighted that some of her most impromptu departures from the text came while describing work with nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, who she photographed just before the 1996 Games. Leibovitz used her story behind the photo to drive home two main points of the evening -- there are some shots that become part of history (capturing Lewis at his pre-Games peak as one example), and you should follow through on commitments even when you don't think you want to (she almost skipped photographing Lewis as he was not expected to medal in Atlanta -- a few weeks later he became only the third person to win nine gold medals).

What did not entirely surprise me (an explanation why begins in two paragraphs) is that Leibovitz remarked on the diversity of connections made with her portrait subjects to arrive at "the shot" -- her most vivid descriptions on this topic came while showcasing a range of photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger during his early career, Hollywood days and pre-political aspirations, as well as her memories of working with dancers and athletes (her new book includes notes from working with Olympic hurdler Edwin Moses that paint this picture).

Leibovitz closed the remarks by taking a few questions from the audience. I was next in line at the microphone, ready with a personal question for Annie, when she cut off the Q&A to start signing books (DANG!). Eventually, later in the evening, I did get to ask my question, "where was you photo of Olympic silver medal-winning wrestler Matt Ghaffari taken?"

Here is the back story to explain why I posed this question (Leibovitz's answer also follows):

When I was an intern at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs during the summer of 1995 (assigned to work in the public relations department at USA Wrestling), one morning I arrived at the USA Wrestling office to find a message from my boss. He said, in so many words, "There's some hot-shot photographer in town to take photos of a couple of [Atlanta Olympic-bound] wrestlers -- we need you to go with the wrestlers when the photographer comes to pick them up, and spend the day with the crew taking the photos."

As planned, a crew picked up the wrestlers (including Matt Ghaffari, an Iranian American who is one of the most genuine and coolest Olympians anywhere -- a real class act) and I to a public park with a massive green lawn and Pike's Peak looming to the west under a cloudless summer sky.

I was confused because there appeared to be two freshly placed dump truck loads of dirt -- one was sand, the other a darker clay -- recently poured on one flat expanse. The whole scene was punctuated with huge scaffolding covered with tarps, and a couple of ladders were in place. We were at the photographer's "studio" for the day. The photographer, of course, was Annie Leibovitz!

Leibovitz had a big crew and it was clear no expense was spared. Easily more than $100,000 went into this one setting as the dirt was used to create a wrestling venue inspired by ancient Olympic wrestling sites near Olympia, Greece, and the different shades of soil were trucked in to provide a range of hues for black and white Polaroids that Leibovitz started shooting as the wrestlers got going on the Terra firma.

I still have the business card for the Swatch public relations executive who was on site, presumably bankrolling the whole operation for what became Leibovitz's 1996 book titled "Olympic Portraits" (my good friend, Meghan, gave me a sweet Swatch featuring some of the photos from that book -- thanks, Meg).

Imagine my stunned surprise when, during our picnic lunch (arranged by Annie's intern and yours truly -- go, interns, go!) in the park, Leibovitz pretty much scrapped the entire "Greek dirt wrestling" set up because Ghaffari, the USA wrestler who went on to win silver in Atlanta, started telling Annie a very personal story about how as a boy his father taught him to wrestle by "pretending your opponent is a tree and you are trying to wrestle a tree out of the ground."

Leibovitz LOVED this -- you could see the wheels turning behind her tortoise-shell glasses as she asked Ghaffari to take hold of the oak trees under which we were lunching. After just a few more Polaroids we were all sent packing. Photo shoot's over, folks! So long, Annie Leibovitz.

The thing is, on that summer internship day in Colorado, I had NO CLUE -- ZERO -- who Annie Leibovitz was -- the entire day! The name did not ring a bell at all. For real. It was a day or two later, when I told a fellow intern or a family member about work that day in passing, that it finally registered "Holy Sh*t! That was that Annie Leibovitz!" I still cringe about my naïveté that day!

I also cringe because, as an intern on site at the photo shoot, I was asked to help collect all the trash and "Polaroid rejects" belched out of Annie's camera into the dirt. At one time my hands held dozens of "no good" photos staged and lost forever following Leibovitz's work on the ladders (I kick myself monthly on this point -- these shots would be extremely rare Annie Leibovitz originals now, and they are in some landfill instead of my apartment!).

I learned the following year, when the Leibovitz Olympic book debuted at an Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) press conference at The INFORUM in Atlanta, that Leibovitz wound up re-shooting Ghaffari wrestling trees at another location later in 1995. As an ACOG staff member, I was in attendance at the packed press event, and tried to pose the question at a cut-short Q&A there, too -- until yesterday it was my understanding the final Ghaffari wrestling trees portrait was snapped at Midtown Atlanta's Piedmont Park, down the street from my current residence.

The answer, after 12 years: Annie Leibovitz does not remember!

While she signed a copy of "Annie Leibovitz At Work" she answered my question with a friendly and frank reply that they did re-shoot the "wrestling trees" at a later date, but she was not sure when or where. She offered a sincere thank you and handshake during our brief reunion (she has, by the way, some of the most graceful, large and strong hands of any handshake in recent memory) she asked about Ghaffari and how he is doing, perhaps signalling that although he was not the most famous celebrity in her repertoire, a connection was made that day in Colorado Springs.

She did not remember me, so it seems we're "even" on naïveté about each other (ha-ha).

I appreciate Annie Leibovitz taking time to answer one more question -- this one for the Flip Video camera -- just after signing the last of thousands of books sold at last night's MJCCA event.

The question: Would she take on another Olympic project in the future?

The answer (see video) yielded a surprise -- Leibovitz apparently was supposed to attend the Atlanta Games but was denied access near the last minute. It's tough to read whether she remains miffed about this fact (will let you, video viewers, draw your own conclusions).

It is my hope the future will in fact bring Olympians into focus for Leibovitz's craft (if Swatch is out there reading, let's see what you can get in the works for Vancouver 2010 or London 2010, OK?).