Pinned: The creepiness of Foxcatcher

If it weren't base, closely (I think), on fact, Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher would probably be just too weird and kinky to believe, but truth can be stranger than fiction, as the saying goes, so if you think of Foxcatcher as a re-enacted documentary of sorts it's pretty engaging and, at time, fascinating. Most of all, it's Steve Carell's movie, as he gives an incredibly nuanced and disturbing performance as John "Eagle" Dupont, a 50-something billionaire who is weirdly obsessed with wrestling and wrestlers and entices a team of Olympic hopefuls to his estate to train for competition - and imagines himself as their mentor, coach, and friend - when in fact he's their patron and they're his playthings. The relationship he develops with Olympian Mark Schulz (Channing Tatum) is the heart of the movie, as we watch the physical and emotional descent of Schulz over the course of the film, his humiliation and - though it's strongly hinted at but never shown directly - his sexual relationship with Dupont. In that sense, the movie is about the power of wealth and class, how Dupont, a weak and pathetic, lonesome figure, dominated by his austere, cold mother (Vanessa Redgrave, in a small part), can exert his will over these young men whom he, essentially, has entrapped and kept as his harem. I can't tell if Tatum's a good actor - he seems exactly the same in each of the films I've seen him in, understated and dull, but handsome and physically agile - but he's excellent at least for this role. Out of courtesy to the living Mark Schulz and his family, I suspect the film went easy on some aspects of his relationship with Dupont, but it's still a devastating portrait of ruined lives, with a few terrific scenes: Tatum forced to give a speech in honor of Dupont, Dupont trying to "coach" the wrestlers, the look on Carell's face when he "wins" an obviously rigged over-50 wrestling tournament. Depending on your tolerant for creepiness, worth seeing.