CAPOTE

by Joe Barber on Nov.02, 2005, under Joe Barber's Movie Reviews

JOE REVIEW: “CAPOTE”

“For what does it profit a man if he gains the wholw world and loses his soul?” This Biblical quotation became fixed in my mind as I watched the compelling new film “Capote”. Now in limited release, this bracingly honest and engrossing film is powered by a mesmerising lead performan by Philip SeymourHoffman as author Truman Capote.

Based on Gerald Clarke’s bestselling biography of the late writer and celebrity, the movie follows Capote as he researches the story behind the story of the murders of a Kansas farm family by two drifters in November of 1959. Capote’s version of the story, the “non-fiction novel” he titled “In Cold Blood”, became a landmark book and introduced the genre of the true crime book, a form that, sadly, has become almost commonplace in its sucess.

Director Bennett Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman portray Capote as a popular young talent on the rise and a fixture at Manhatten cocktail parties. Already a widely read talent, thanks to the popularity of “Other Voices, Other Rooms” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, he seems more like a character from one his stories come to life than a real person. When he reads a New York “Times” story on the killings, he convinces William Shawn, editor of “The New Yorker” , to pay his expenses so he can go to Kansas to research a story for the magazine.

Realizing just how out of place he’ll be in the Midwest, he enlists the aid of his childhood freiend and fellow author Nell Harper Lee (Catherine
Keener) to help with the research. As he begins to look into the killings, he quickly realizes there’s more to the story than a simple robbery gone bad. Making the most of his charm and celebrity, he grows close to the towwnspeople, in particular, the detective on the case and his wife.

When the killers, Richard Hickcock and Perry Smith are captured and quickly convicted and sentenced to death, Capote hones in on the “why” of the murders, growing particularly close to Perry. He arrainges for unlimited acess for prison interviews and helps the duo to find a competent attorney for their appeal. As the legal system grinds away, Capote finds himself trapped in a dilemma. Though he cares about Smith, the book he’s writing could become a powerful weapon against the appeal.

In his heart of hearts, however, Capote knows his has a powerful, provocate book on his hands, one that has the potential to make him one of the best known, most read authors in the country. Issues of loyalty, betrayal and conscience grow larger as Capote struggles to complete the book and honor the bonds of friendship he has formed.

Hoffman is amazing in the ttle role. He avoids doing a nightclub impressionist-style performance, instead finding the core of Capote’s personality to fashion a dead on portrait. Though he is physically bigger, in terms of height and weight, than Capote, Hoffman, working in concert with director Miller, becomes the writer in front of your eyes. Slimmed down wih a close cropped haircut, Hoffman is framed by Miller in every shot to create the feelig of physical smallness.

Hoffman and Futterman clearly see Capote as the ultimate outsider, a man frequently abandoned by his mother as a child. He is Southerner of genteel manners, seeking acceptance in the rough and tumble New York literary world. He sees similar things in Perry Smith and reaches out to him, knowing all the while little of any good will come of it. Hoffman’s performance explores these complexities with subtlty and immense skill.

Catherine Keener is excellent as Lee, the only person Capote truly trusts and the only one strong enough to tell him the truth at all times. Clifton Collins, Jr. is excellent as the confused, lonely and dangerous Smith and Chris Cooper deliver another of his no-nonsense, perfectly modulated performances as Albert Dewey, the police detective on the case.

Utterly watchable and heart wrending, “Capote” stands out as one of the year’s best films, a fascinating look at writer as both seducer and seduced.
It is confirmation of one of Oscar Wilde’s cleverst sayings: “There are two awful things in life-wanting the one thing in life you can not have, and getting it.” So much for answered prayers.

MPAA RATING: R for profanity, violent images and content and sensuality.
JOE’ RATING: FOUR STARS.