Capote
Directed by: Bennett Miller
Written by: Dan Futterman, Gerald Clarke
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr, Chris Cooper, Bob Balaban

I haven’t read “In Cold Blood”, so I felt at a disadvantage going into this film without any prior knowledge of Truman Capote or his work. All I knew was that everyone was giving this film perfect reviews, and that I love Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has always managed to bump a movie up a notch or two in quality just by his presence. In “Capote”, it’s more than a notch. As a leading man, Hoffman has definitely proven himself in a performance that screams Oscar louder than anything I’ve seen in this decade. Yes, even more than Foxx in last years “Ray”.

The film spans around 5 years in the life of the author, who was famous for having a strange personality and a, to be polite, unique ego. As he reads about the deaths of a family in Missouri, he immediately sees an opportunity to make a bundle by creating the first non-fiction novel. Capote openly explains to the police that he doesn’t care if the people who committed the crimes are caught, but when he finally meets the killers, as much as he intends to exploit them for fame and fortune, he somehow falls in love with one of them, Perry Smith. Truman is extremely conflicted. He continues to deceive them daily, even helping them to put off their execution date several years to get more material for his book.

While he needs the killers to die in order for his book to have an ending – his feelings for Smith torture him to the point where it would destroy him inside if he were to let them die. Hoffman, excellently directed by Miller, successfully conveys the extreme moral confusion in Capote, effortlessly making the viewer constantly change their opinion of Capote throughout the film. Never does the performance or style feel forced in trying to communicate what’s going on within the characters. Hoffman is well supported by Oscar winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation) as the chief of police as well as Catherine Keener as Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird (a book I actually HAVE read). Bob Balaban as his magazine editor and Bruce Greenwood as Capote’s lover are also well used in helping to drive the inner conflict Capote faces.

The only shortcoming of this film is something that may really just be my problem: the film is rather slow paced and visually is low-key enough to occasionally make me feel like I was going to doze off in the dark theater, even though I was interested in what was happening. I imagine this might be a film better enjoyed on DVD. It’s not a particularly long film, but it did feel a little bit exhausting. Whether you make that wait or not, I strongly urge anyone to give Capote a chance. It’s a film that resonates with long after you finish watching. — Goon

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