#6: FOXCATCHER

#6: FOXCATCHER (11-1-15)

Starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatnum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave and Sienna Miller.

Written by Dan Futterman, E. Max Frye and directed by Bennett Miller.

134 minutes long.

Based on the true story of the John Du Pont's murder of the wrestling coach and Olympic champion, Dave Schultz. Foxcatcher is an extraordinarily intense portrait of three men, John DuPont - Steve Carrel in a career defining roll, Channing Tatnum as the nice but dim, Olympic and World Champion - Mark Schultz and his brother, US Wrestling Coach as played by Mark Ruffalo. All three deserve great kudos and awards galore.

Together they give superb performances, each seemingly encouraging the other two to match and then raise the bar without ever over-egging the pudding instead, they create a fantastically compelling world, that keeps you utterly engrossed and enthralled right up to its terrible conclusion.

This is a seriously powerful film, deep, dark and brooding, a film that builds slowly, taking its time to introduce the characters and construct its story. Perhaps half of the appeal of the film is that it's based on a true story, which makes the characters seem all that more real – you find yourself caring for them, of trying to identify the tipping point, of wanting to, somehow, stop the dreadful inevitability from happening and yet there's also a strange voyeuristic desire to see that terrible fate claim the life of one of these 'real' people.

An intense, dramatic and amazing. Don't miss it.

9/10