I finally got to see the Best Actor performance of Philip Seymour Hoffman as the late writer and icon Truman Capote. It's based on the biography published in the Eighties entitled Capote by Gerald Clarke.
The only part of the book the film deals with is the creation and completion of Capote's landmark docunovel In Cold Blood. And the film is remarkably faithful to the details described in the book. In 1959 in his Brooklyn Heights apartment, Truman Capote read about the slaying of a Kansas family named Clutter in some small town called Holcomb. He decides to go west and investigate every aspect of this gruesome tragedy. That includes numerous interviews with both the suspects that are eventually caught, tried, and convicted.
With one of them, Perry Smith, Capote forms a strange relationship as he tries to get the real story about what happened in that Kansas farm house that night in 1959 by the only two left who can tell it. And Smith who is flattered by all the attention this celebrity is giving him. It's sad, but Perry Smith becomes almost a celebrity by reflection at a time when he's facing execution. Clifton Collins, Jr. plays Smith and it's a subtle piece of acting he does. We see a lost little boy in those scenes with Capote in prison, but we also never forget this man is a stone cold killer who went to this farm house in the mistaken belief that Mr. Clutter had squirreled away a large sum of cash because he didn't trust banks.
Not as foolish as you might think. In the generation before during the Depression when banks did fail, a lot of people lost their faith in financial institutions. In fact an uncle and aunt of mine had that happen to them before they passed on the last decade.
But the film belongs to Philip Seymour Hoffman. I first saw Hoffman on screen playing Scotty G in Boogie Nights. It was also a gay character, but light years from the sophisticated and glamorous Truman Capote. Scotty G was the backward kid who crushes out big time on Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights. Hoffman is an player of extraordinary range to successfully essay both Capote and Scotty G.
This was an extraordinary year in the Academy Awards with nominations going to performers who played real life people. Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, George Clooney as Edward R. Murrow, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote. And every one of them gave a performance that made me think I was seeing old film clips of their characters.
I recommend the film. As a story it can stand on its own. But I also recommend highly the book by Gerald Clarke. For those of you liked the film and like Philip Seymour Hoffman in the part, the biography Capote is a fascinating read, a glimpse into gay America, both pre and post the Stonewall Riots. And it's a good social history of the times.
Capote
2005
Action / Biography / Crime / Drama / History
Capote
2005
Action / Biography / Crime / Drama / History
Plot summary
Famed writer Truman Capote, southern born and bred but now part of the New York City social circle, is growing weary of his current assignment of writing autobiographical type pieces for the New Yorker. After reading a newspaper article about the just occurred November 14, 1959 cold blooded murders of the Clutter family in their rural Kansas home, Truman feels compelled to write about that event as his next article. So he and his personal assistant Nelle Harper Lee, also a southern born New Yorker and an aspiring writer of her own, head to Kansas to research the story first-hand. Truman hopes to use his celebrity status to gain access to whomever he needs, such as to Laura Kinney, a friend of the Clutter daughter she who discovered the bodies, and to Alvin Dewey, the lead police investigator and also a Clutter family friend. If his celebrity doesn't work, Truman will grease the wheels by whatever means necessary. When the police eventually charge suspects, two young men named Dick Hickcock and Perry Smith, Truman uses those same tactics to gain access to them. Truman's fascination with the story makes him believe that he can revolutionize writing by expanding the germ of the article into what he calls a non-fiction novel. His personal involvement also changes as he grows emotionally attached to Perry, the seemingly sensitive and thus probable submissive in the criminal pairing, thus Truman becoming part of the story itself. Article or non-fiction novel, Truman knows that he has to take it to its natural conclusion, something which he cannot force. But also missing are the details of the November 14, 1959 event itself, something that neither Dick or Perry have divulged even in testimony.
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Philip Seymour Capote
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It's 1959. New Yorker writer Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) hears about the horrifying murders in Kansas. He and his research assistant Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) go to write about the crime. Harper Lee gets published. They befriend lead detective Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper). Then Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) are arrested. As Truman digs into the story, he decides to write a new kind of book "In Cold Blood".
It's an amazing performance from PSH which is only rivaled by a close second from CCJ. Catherine Keener is solid and it's a bit of a shock for novices like me to find Harper Lee working for Capote at that time. It's not a terribly dramatic story but it is a great showcase for the actors. It's worthy Oscar win for PSH.
He Is Capote!
I saw Truman Capote dozens of times; he was a staple of the talk show circuit. One of the greatest TV moments was when he called Wilbur Mills a racist in the most subtle way that the Georgia governor took about half a minute to realize what had happened. This man was a firebrand. He never backed down from anything, despite his effeminate ways and small stature. Unfortunately, he word his celebrity on his sleeve and was often overly harsh and full of himself. This is a great movie. The subtle methods he uses to draw out the story from the murderer shows that he would do anything to get a story, even lie to a person with whom he had begun to fall in love. He pictures himself as compassionate at times, but he is often unwilling to go that final mile. It's surprising he was in attendance at the hangings, the events that probably contributed to his death. What a complex man. His canon of American literature is small but he was a master stylist and commentator. See this movie for Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance. It is one of the greatest in cinematic history. We remember Capote. He is Capote!