Foxcatcher

This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 10 months ago by PA Ram.

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January 25, 2015 at 1:57 pm #17352
PA Ram
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Yeah–thought I’d toss out another film I just watched.

I watched “Foxcatcher” which tells the story of wrestlers Dave and Mark Shultz and the murder of Dave Shultz by John Dupont.

I have to say, I don’t know whether I liked it or not. That’s not exactly true–I didn’t particularly like it but I couldn’t stop watching it either. The film moves very slowly but the thing that makes it difficult to watch is the “creep” factor. John Dupont(as played by Carell) is one very creepy guy.

It plays a little like “Psycho” wirth Norman and MOTHER always watching over him. The dude had some issues to say the least. The whole vibe he gives off is bad and the film did a great job of creating that atmosphere. That’s why watching it was uncomfortable. I don’t know what the real Dupont was like but I have to wonder why the Shultz brothers didn’t just say, “Hey we need the money for our training and these facilities are great..but no thanks man, you creep me out.”

The film hints at a reason for the murder but it also leaves a lot of blanks because a lot doesn’t seem to be known.

Ultimately it feels a bit pointless.

But it does make you feel the presence of this madman. It does that very well. The whole spirit of this guy is woven through every scene of the film–whether he’s in the scene or not–you sense him.

The acting was fantastic. I actually thought Channing Tatum deserved a nomination for his portrayal of Mark Shultz.

But Carell does a great job turning up the weird creep factor on Dupont.

I’d still give the Best Actor to Keaton but he does a great job with this role.

But the mood and feeling of the film kinda sticks with you a bit.

Yuck.
- This topic was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by PA Ram.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick
January 25, 2015 at 6:34 pm #17368

zn
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The film hints at a reason for the murder

Haven;t seen it yet and I don’t mind spoilers. What is the hint.

January 25, 2015 at 9:29 pm #17378
PA Ram
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It sort of lightly hints(nothing explicit) at a homosexual attraction that Dupont may have had for Mark Shultz and his brother Dave may have come between them when he encourages Mark to leave Foxcatcher. There really isn’t much of a stated motive. I know that Mark Shultz got upset with the filmmaker for it at one point.

One way or the other Dupont had some sort of mental illness.
- This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by PA Ram.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick
January 26, 2015 at 10:00 am #17396
wv
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- This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by wv.
January 26, 2015 at 11:32 am #17409

PA Ram
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I get the feeling that Dupont video was edited to put him in the best light possible. I bet he said a lot of weird stuff during filming that had to be edited out or shot again.

I think he probably made for an interesting subject for the psychiatrists. Apparently while in prison he was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/2014/08/03/foxcatcher-fodder-john-du-ponts-bizarre-downfall/13556321/

In the months before John E. du Pont shot and killed Olympic gold medal wrestler Dave Schultz in 1996, signs of his worsening mental illness were on display, according to court testimony and interviews by Wilmington News Journal reporters following the killing. (The News Journal is a sister paper of the Courier-Post.)

The du Pont story is being told in the newly released film “Foxcatcher.” The movie, starring Steve Carell and Channing Tatum, is generating early Oscar buzz

Long before du Pont shot Schultz at his 880-acre estate in Newtown Square, Pa., the heir was unraveling.

The founder of the Delaware Museum of Natural History, du Pont had held a loaded machine gun to the chest of another wrestler, removed treadmills and bicycles from his estate because he thought their clocks were sending him backward in time and shot a group of nesting geese because he believed they were casting spells on him.

I don’t mean to belittle any of this. Mental illness is a serious subject and it seems that a lot of patients do not get the care they need. This guy had tons of money and yet they really could not help him in the end. Perhaps he should have been in a facility somewhere, for his safety and for others.

I suspect, because he had money, people tolerated him, tip-toed around his odd behavior or even fed into his fantasies.

It’s a shame, really.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick
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