Capote

I think Truman Capote would have been reasonably happy with this movie about the most significant period in his life. While he was already a rising literary star for the novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s and as a regular writer for The New Yorker, there’s no question that In Cold Blood was not only a masterpiece but a breakthrough in modern journalism. Tom Wolfe, Ken Kesey and Hunter Thompson all followed along in the path the book blazed, as did New Yorker colleague George Plimpton.

Capote covers the years from 1959, as Capote read a newspaper story about the brutal Kansas slaying and immediately sensed this was a story he could write, through the 1965 execution of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. Coming more from the perspective of a novelist and playwright, Capote inserted himself into events in a way that no journalist ever would. He befriended Smith and found the pair better lawyers for their appeals than were possible for the trial; despite his efforts, they were actually guilty and no Midwestern court in those days would have allowed the murders of four clean-cut solid citizens to go unpunished.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman got most of the praise for his portrayal of the titular character, and took home the 2006 Oscar for Best Actor (over a relatively weak field), though several others won or were nominated for major awards. Director Bennett Miller and co-star Catherine Keener (who played bestfriend Harper Lee) lost out to Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), and to Crash for Best Picture.

From my perspective, the focus was spot on as Hoffman completely dominated Capote; I’m hard-pressed to imagine a more definitive example of Method acting. He captured the author’s manipulative, narcisstic persona, willing to say what he needed to get people to open up to him. That may not seem like much but over the course of 110 minutes it creeps and grows with the final acts clawing out from the inside.

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