ALPHA GONZO

By: B -- 12/11/05

New biopic Capote is about Truman Capote’s struggle writing the classic novel In Cold Blood, a non-fiction classic about a 1959 murder in Kansas and the effect it has on the whole town. Here’s the thing: I have not read In Cold Blood. Therefore, I am an idiot. One should never see a “making of” movie or tv show without first consuming the subject at hand. I mean, that’s just common sense.

Still enjoyed the movie though, in a less profound way. It’s a period drama that involves Capote attempting to learn the story behind the murders (a family of four shot in their home, two drifters arrested). Capote befriends the chief of police, the townsfolk and eventually one of the alleged murderers, spending the majority of his time with him. The mood is dark and the pace is calculated; the film’s goal is to show Capote’s internal strife writing a non-fiction novel about a crime, and characters, to which he is increasingly intertwined. Capote was the first to blur the line of objectivity.

I would gush over Philip Seymour Hoffman’s inspired performance of Capote, but it’s been stated ad nauseam elsewhere. Capote was a self-centered, eccentric guy – squeaky voice, foppish wardrobe, gayer than a ukulele – but Hoffman just disappears into him. I’m sure he’s the frontrunner for Best Actor, an honor he’s deserved with every one of his performances. Hoffman’s the tops.

Capote was too darkly conventional to be a classic, but it’s no doubt a solid rental (even for people like me who never read In Cold Blood).

POP RATING: 6

CRITICAL RATING: 7.5

B'S RATING: 7

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