Baseball fans will see the pun straight away; I had to look it up. The non-batting runner, having only made it a certain way around the field, gets tagged out by a fielder trying to “steal”, or sneak up, on a base from the one behind. As far as the non-metaphorical meaning goes, no one in this movie is actually apprehended in the act of theft. But in a world where home runs are unavailable to most, the idea of cheekily trying for covert advantage and survival through quick wits is clear.
Charlie Huston’s violent crime novel of the same name from 2004 has been adapted for the screen by the author, and Darren Aronofsky directs with gleeful energy, flair and a dark humour that straddles the mischief/malice borderline. Incredible to think that his last film was the solemn and inertly sententious body-image drama The Whale. This has more of the confrontational extravagance and energy of his earlier work; it’s not as purely deranged as Aronofsky’s meltdown film Mother!, although, speaking of mothers, there is no doubt who the hero of this film considers to be his best friend.
