A trio of terrific performances headline the dark true-crime drama Foxcatcher, yet director Bennett Miller’s perfectionist, methodical approach frustrates as much as it immerses.

During press rounds for Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller revealed two nuggets of information that says everything about his filmmaking style and philosophy: The film took almost a year to edit, and the first cut was 4 hours long.

From Kubrick to Malick cinema is filled with filmmakers who slavishly labour over their projects to varied results, and Foxcatcher is as polarising a film as they come, an absorbing and poignant work yet also wearisome and drawn-out, with moments of ho-hum snail pacing matched by even more moments of masterful brilliance.

Foxcatcher is based on a true story that is as bizarre as it is disturbing. It all revolves around Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark and Dave Schultz (Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo), and their relationship with eccentric multimillionaire Jean du Pont (Steve Carrell).

When an aimless and bitter Mark seeks to escape the shadow of his much more personable and successful brother, an opportunity presents itself in the form of Du Pont, wrestling mad and with loads of cash upon which he opens his own exclusive wrestling facility on his Foxcatcher Farm estate, with the dream of leading wrestlers like Mark to a dominance of the sport.

Needless to say for any true-crime story things don’t turn out so well, as the disintegrating veil of Du Pont’s financial superiority reveals a disturbed and desperate mind, leading to a chain of events that result in a tragic outcome for all involved.

Of course focus falls fast upon an almost unrecognisable Steve Carrell, the actor known for his comedic roles in The 40 Year Old Virgin and TV series The Office embracing this dark, dramatic role with the earnestness needed to make such a transition work. Yet effort aside, Carrell is not able to wholly persuade as this monstrous figure, with the excellent make-up work playing the man rather than the man playing the make-up, Carrell trying just a little too hard to reach that dramatic high bar.

Much more convincing in their roles are Ruffalo and Tatum, the former bringing that magnetic charisma and heart to his portrait of a much loved and respected man, while the latter utilising that mumbling, meathead persona that dogged his early career to a character of little social graces and much quiet intensity. Tatum has been on a role of late, yet his turn as Mark Schultz is a revelation of just how potent Tatum’s dramatic chops have become, with his portrayal of this hulking mass of restrained emotion his best yet.

It all plays out in a cold and distant world, the minimal use of score adding weight to what feels like eternal moments of silence, projecting a foreboding and uncomfortable air broken by the slap of flesh upon flesh and the squeak of shoes on wrestling mat.

Foxcatcher very much belongs in the realm of tragedy. The one thing that drew these men together was a desire to win a gold medal for their country, and yet the sad outcome to their journey will forever taint there legacies. Miller squeezes every little bit of detail and raw emotion and lays it bear for all to see, resulting in an uneasy yet never the less gripping watch.