Movies

On November 14, 1959 two men broke into a country home in a small Kansas town. If they were in search of something, that was vastly overshadowed by what they did. On that night so many years ago, the two men brutally murdered the family living there. Details of the four people murdered made their way into the New York Times and I am sure caught the attention of many. One man in particular was moved enough to want to write about it. He wanted to learn everything he could and write an article on how the town was reacting to this tragedy. After arriving in Kansas and talking to a few people, he realized there was too much material for an article. He would have to write a book. This movie tells Truman Capote's story as he researches and writes his novel In Cold Blood.

Capote used the fame acquired from best-selling fiction novels, the name popularized from them, and his publisher's deep pockets to obtain unrestricted access to information and to the two men charged with the crime. From there he used his manipulative personality and his supercharged drive to write this book to pry into the lives of Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith; the convicted.

At first glance, I had decided not to see Capote. My movie watcher-actor relationship with Philip Seymour Hoffman has never been strong. He has been in good movies (Almost Famous, Patch Adams), but I have never had much respect for his work in them. I have never seen any archive footage of Truman Capote, so I cannot speak to how well Hoffman played Capote. Trueness to the character aside, I was very impressed with Hoffman's performance. Too often I find his characters devoid of emotion. That may be the way they are written, but it comes across to me as attributed to Hoffman. As Truman Capote he felt, and he felt deeply. You may not like it, but you will feel along with him as you watch Capote.

Clifton Collins Jr. is a name that I wish more people knew. In Capote Collins has a very important role; he was cast as Perry Smith, the convicted young man to which Truman Capote devotes the most time. Based on the amount of on screen time he had, I hate to say that I thought it unfortunate that he had such a small role. When I say that, I mean that I am disappointed by how few speaking parts he had, but that was the nature of his character and the will of the makers of the movie. I think he has talent and decent potential. He has worked with big names earlier in his career, Samuel L. Jackson in 187 and Robert Redford in The Last Castle, but I think landing the role in Capote was his biggest step forward. Maybe after seeing Capote you will finally remember the name Clifton Collins, Jr.

Catherine Keener plays Capote's long time friend and research assistant Nell Harper Lee. That name may ring familiar, if it does it will be most likely from the book she wrote while she helped Truman Capote work on his. Her book was titled To Kill A Mockingbird. If you have seen Keener in other movies, you may know her as a strong willed, patient woman. This holds true in Capote as well.

The movie really makes you want to like Truman Capote, it his Truman himself that fights to make you dislike him. As the protagonist watchers struggle with him to get information, but it is his choices of what to do with that information that causes conflict. What I learned from the movie Capote is that Truman Capote was a very self-absorbed man. Each and everything he did in his adult life appeared to be self-serving or not worth his time. You see the relationships he has developed. We get to know two the two people closest in his life, yet even their friendship is at his convenience. They see the good in him and wish to share it with him, but more often than not it seems to be buried beneath his own motives.

This book was not a part of his life, rather it was his life as he wrote it and it left irreparable damage once this chapter in his life was closed. It consumed him and you may take solace as it seems he does see the error in his ways at the end. Hindsight is 20/20, so they say. We are led to believe he could not forgive himself; it will be on a case by case basis whether we as viewers, now privy to the details, can forgive him.

The movie was very graphic, so I do warn you about that, but if it is actually possible, I must say the graphic nature of Capote was done tastefully and it did serve a purpose. There was nothing gratuitous about it.

I liked Capote very much. I love profound movies, and Capote certainly was that. I recommend you see this in the theater if you have the chance. If not, on DVD will have to suffice.

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