Capote
Screenplay written by: Dan Futerman based on Gerald Clarke’s
book
Actors: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton
Collins Jr, Chris Cooper, Bruce Underwood, Mark Pellegrino
Directed by: Bennett Miller
Rated: R (Strong and violent images)
Capote
Screenplay written by: Dan Futerman based on Gerald Clarke’s book
Actors: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr, Chris Cooper, Bruce Underwood, Mark Pellegrino
Directed by: Bennett Miller
Rated: R (Strong and violent images)
After New York magazine writer, Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman), achieved such valued notoriety for his story, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” this eccentric, strange-speaking, and diminutive man became more eager to expand and maintain his newly found journalistic success. Happening upon a small newspaper article about four family members brutally murdered in a farmhouse in Holcomb, Kan., he became convinced that there was a story behind the story. Intrigued by his insistence, the New Yorker magazine’s publisher agrees to send him to Holcomb to conduct research and find inspired creativity. Capote wisely brings along his Southern-born friend and aspiring novelist, Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), to buffer the leeriness that suspicious mid-westerners will have to opening up to such a curious man, even by New York literary society standards. He is drawn to explore their warped thinking and disenfranchised lives that he strangely understands, while developing a bizarre trusting relationship with one of two murderers. This is the beginning of a journey of vulnerability, weakness, self-conflict and moral soul-searching while writing his acclaimed novel, “In Cold Blood,” and for many years thereafter.
He Said:
“Capote” was a good bio-pic of a gifted author and a very engaging movie. It’s also a strange study of psychological complexities, complete with human weaknesses that motivate ethical dilemmas. The acting was definitely the strength that carried this movie, as opposed to the writing or directing. Hoffman’s personification of Truman Capote was amazing (if you’re old enough to remember Capote on a live talk-show). The way he captured Capote’s uniqueness was almost eerie. Catherine Keener also deserves applause. She was excellent (as always) as his friend, Harper Lee, who Capote encouraged to keep writing before she won the Pulitzer Prize for penning “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The plot and some of the sub-plots were not explored as fully as they could have, but watching Hoffman literally become Capote was worth the price of admission. The film experience was mesmerizing and you will always remember his performance.
On the R&R Scale (1-10):
7 for script (Could have had broader range/scope)
7 for direction (Just focusing on Hoffman’s brilliance worked, but there was something untapped elsewhere)
9 for acting (Everyone very good 8, Hoffman extraordinary 10)
8 for plot (A little flat in places, yet his complexities did come through)
8 for entertainment value
7.8 overall
She Said:
It was interesting to me that this movie was as much about the famous author’s creative process of writing his acclaimed book, “In Cold Blood,” as it was the story of Truman Capote’s inner-awareness during his interview process with one of the convicted murderers of the Kansas family. The alienation that the murderers felt from normal society their whole lives unfolded and became something that Truman could relate to on a visceral level. Hoffman revealed Capote to be both intrigued and appalled by the killer’s cold-bloodedness exposed during the prison interviews that he relished for “factional” fodder, recognizing that it fed the background to the plot, character development, and motivations needed to accomplish his own super-ordinate goal to create a new genre of novel. As time went on, the film exposed his internal struggle for not being authentic while developing the killer’s trust evolved into an ethical dilemma; yet only secondary to this super-ordinate goal of getting the book finished. But the best part of this film was that Hoffman’s embodiment of Truman Capote was nothing short of amazing. Every nuance, voice inflection, movement of his eyes and body captured what I remembered of the author’s unique eccentricity so genuinely. Definitely not “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” Hoffman’s “Capote” has put me in a serious quandary as to my vote for best actor for the entire year.
On the R&R Scale (1-10)
8 for script (Captured subtleties of characters and novel writing well that provided key perspectives on motivation)
7 for direction (Close-ups of Hoffman were effective, but perhaps overused at expense of gaining insight to other characters)
10 for acting (90 percent Hoffman; everyone else did an excellent job also)
7 for plot (Could have been more multi-layered)
8 for entertainment value
8.0 overall
