Movie of the Week: Team Foxcatcher
Alexa: It’s no wonder John du Pont and the wrestling team he sponsored at his Foxcatcher Farm have been the subject of multiple documentaries, books and an Academy Award-nominated film. It’s a story that begins with athletic excellence and camaraderie and ends in inexplicable tragedy, with a successful wrestler’s life cut short by the man who championed his talents for years. The real-life events are more compelling than initially depicted in the Netflix documentary “Team Foxcatcher,” which chronicles du Pont’s interest in the sport, the launch of Team Foxcatcher, du Pont’s increasingly erratic behavior and the murder of Olympic gold medalist Dave Schultz. The film is essentially one part sports documentary and one part true crime saga, and the narrative feels a bit tentative and clunky during the former. But the filmmakers seem to settle into their element once the focus shifts to du Pont’s bizarre tendencies, the team’s growing discomfort and Schultz’s death. At that point ...
