Capote (2005)

"Capote," directed by Bennet Miller, is not as much a biopic about the famous author Truman Capote, who penned "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "In Cold Blood," as one would expect as it to be, as it is a crime story and study of human relationships. It chronicles only the years of Capote's life where he was researching and writing "In Cold Blood."

The movie is headed by an exceptional performance by Phillip Seymore Hoffman, and is a taught, suspenseful crime story, as well as an emotional study of human relationships in extraordinary circumstances. The best film of 2005 that I have seen and by far the best performance (granted I have not seen many of the other popular candidates yet, so I guess final judgement will have to be withheld but I can't see how either a movie or performance could be much better.)

Phillip Seymore Hoffman has become one of the great actors of this generation. He is probably more well known for the characters he has played than he is by his name. If you don't know him by name you should know instantly who I am talking about when I say he was Brandt in "The Big Labowski," the big Laboskis' butler/assistant, he also was hilarious as Scotty, the gay microphone guy with a crush on Dirk in "Boogie Nights," my favorite movie. However, this is his star making turn, and rightfully so. Many people have done great immitations of famous people in movies, recent examples being Jaimie Fox in "Ray," Jaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line." However, in each of those cases you never completely forget that you are watching actors doing a great job immitating those people. Hoffman becomes Capote. It is an award winning performance.

Many times a great performance is misplaced in a sub-par film, however this is not the case. This is a powerful movie on many fronts. The basic plot summary: Truman is a famous American author. An effeminant, personable homosexual with impish tendancies who comes across a story about a family who was murdered in a rural Kansas town. He is fascinated by the story and goes to the town with his friend Harper Lee, author of "To Kill A Mockingbird," to meet the people for the purpose of writing an article in a journal. However, when he gets there and talks with the characters involved and especially after he meets one of the murderers, Perry Smith, he realizes that what he is researching is not an article but a full length book. The book it turns out to be is "In Cold Blood." It becomes a best seller and the first 'true-crime' novel of its type.

The most important relationship in the movie is that between Capote and Perry Smith, one of the murderers. Capote sees in Perry a fascinating, thoughtful person... who will make a great character in his book, and he forges a loving, yet flawed relationship with him. He uses Perry's hopes and emotions to draw out his deepest thoughts, especially his describing the night of the murders. It is a complicated relationship full of guilt, love, lying, understanding, and ultimately, death, which ironically, Truman needed to have happen in order to finish his book. He sees in Perry a kindred spirit and found it fascinating how he ended up rich and famous while Perry ended up locked in a cell on death row, at one point saying, " It's as if Perry and I grew up in the same house. And one day he went out the back door and I went out the front. "

While I make "Capote" sound like a melodrama about human relationships, which it is, I'm afraid saying it is that alone might turn people off because those movies are often associated with being boring. However, not only is it a fine study human relationships it is also a tense, finely crafted crime movie. The scene where Perry finally tells Truman about the night of the murders is shocking and grizzly in both its visual and emotional impact. Starkly filmed with a motionless camera, and bleached, deadened color, "Capote's" visually mesmerizing and minimalist cinematography fit the tone of the movie perfectly.

"Capote" is an emotional powerhouse, headed by a career defining performance by Phillip Seymore Hoffman. It is rounded out by a stellar cast of supporting roles. Katherine Keener (The 40 year old Virgin-- Andy's girlfriend) is fine as Harper Lee, and Chris Cooper, who plays the chief investigator, is always excellent ( he is probably most famously known for his roles in American Beauty, as the stern, in-the-closet, military father of the neighbor boy, and in "Seabisquit" as the recluse horse trainer, Tom Smith.) "Capote" understands perfectly the complexity and contradictions of many human relatioinships and is an excellent murder mystery and crime story all in one. The best movie I have seen this year, and the best performance.

my rating: 4 out of 5

( Interesting note: In the original movie version of "In Cold Blood," A very famous and critically acclaimed movie in its own right, Perry Smith is played by a young Robert Blake. Blake recieved high praise for his acting in that movie, but maybe he didn't have to act at all. Ironically, he was recently acquited in the criminal court and found guilty in the civil court, and this was WELL publicised on the tabloid shows and court t.v., for the murder of his own wife. The actor sort of became the role he played.)