I guess Darren Aronofsky is in a new era. After an incredible 20 year run of making daring, experimental, Bible challenging films, really bad box office results have forced the talented director to start from scratch. He took bulky Brendan Fraser and made him bulkier, and now, he takes hunky Austin Butler and makes him, well, hunkier. Caught Stealing has a chance to be a classic years from now, but today, at least it gets Aronofsky back in moviemaking good graces so *crossing fingers* he can go back to his crazy sh*t later.
It’s later summer 1998 in New York City, and life has not turned out the way Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) thought it would. He should be playing with the San Francisco Giants as they go for the pennant against the Mets. Instead, he’s stuck with the closing shift at a punk bar in Alphabet City, drinking his sorrows away. The lone bright spot in his life is Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz), his not quite booty call not quite girlfriend who asks him to “take advantage of her poor judgment.” In their rush to hook up, Hank’s neighbor Russ Binder (Matt Smith) rushes out of his place, making Hank take care of the cat. Simple enough…except that cat is part of a citywide turf war, obviously.
There’s no existential drug trip or rock monsters to save Hank in this one. Darren Aronofsky instead pushes the envelope backwards instead of forwards. Caught Stealing is mostly using real sets, pets, and action, like they would have in After Hours, the movie this film is clearly inspired by. So when someone gets hit with a bat, or chased through Chinatown, or dangles on a building’s fire escape, not a green screen or CGI shot is in sight. The movie’s practicality makes all these characters feel more like real people, stuck in a real situation, as they limp away from a fight or a chase. The cast is game for it too: Austin Butler embraces the leading man he was born to be here, looking like an ex baseball player but with a broken heart; his sliding and swings are fantastic. Matt Smith, Bad Bunny, Liev Schreiber, and Nikita Kukushkin (the movie’s shocking MVP) all fill in the wonderful mixture of the randomness that makes New York City the fascinating, magical, and sometimes scary place it is, and remains so today.
As a thriller, Caught Stealing is hit and miss. You know twists are coming, and if you’re at all paying attention, you can guess what those twists might be when they get revealed. Aronofsky seems to sense this, and instead uses shock, awe, and runtime to get the requisite surprise from the audience. So while I wasn’t surprised to see characters get murdered, I was surprised when it happens. This blunt force traumatic events could threaten to derail the movie with a lesser director. Fortunately, Aronofsky’s steady hand resets the tone of the movie quickly, oscillating between specifically silly (at what point do you stop following the Giants because your life is on the line, Hank?), and despondent, as our hero’s backstory is a violent, visceral one, to have some fun…but also be real (world, I’m sorry).
Time will tell what happens with Caught Stealing. Here’s hoping it’s just a solid mid tier film on Darren Aronofsky’s resume as he slingshots back to the majestic weirdo he’s born to be. At least he’s got two of the greats, Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz, in his corner. Especially Kravitz, who hopefully learns from this experience and becomes another majestic weirdo she’s already on her way to becoming.