Film Review: Capote
I know what each of you is thinking...why isn't Jeff wearing pants? Oh, wait...that's not what you're thinking, that's what everyone in the library is thinking right now. What you're thinking is just where in the heckfire has our wayward author been?
Those are stories for a different blog, faithful readers, but rest assured your scribe has not vanished entirely from this pseudo-world we call the information superhighway, World Wide Web...or as Al Gore calls it...mine.
I mark my triumphant, or at least nominally successful, return with a review of the film Capote, a bio-pic marking the nearly six-year odyssey that was Truman Capote's research and writing of his masterwork, In Cold Blood.
For those not in the know, In Cold Blood, is the masterfully worded tale of the shocking murder of a Kansas farm family in the late 1950's. Capote was able to describe the town and its emotions with perfection and the story progressed to follow the exploits, pursuit, arrest, conviction and eventual execution of the two murderers Perry Edward Smith and Dick Hickcock.
Capote, focuses on the man himself and the emotions he faced as what began as merely a prospective magazine article became that work that would define his career and experiences that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Truman Capote is played by the great Philip Seymour Hoffman who does not imitate Capote as much as he channels the man's spirit. Just read one page of a Capote novel or article and you can tell for all his peculiarities the man had a depth of emotion and intelligence paralleled be few and surpassed by even fewer.
But oh those peculiarities....Hoffman absolutely nails Capote's speech patterns, which can only be described as, distinctive. Hoffman is also able to mime the manner in which Capote was able to carry himself as a large than life figure, despite his diminutive frame and effete qualities.
The real treat of this film is the developing relationship between Capote and Perry Smith. When Capote first comes to the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, he tells the lead investigator (an always great Chris Cooper) he doesn't really care if the men responsible are ever caught. Once Smith and Hickcock are arrested, however, and Capote begins talking with the men, his entire attitude changes. We see Capote falling in love with Smith, and possibly vice versa. While at the same time we see both men using each other. Capote using Smith to get his story and Smith using Capote in an attempt to avoid execution.
You following me here? Good, because this paradox drove Capote to alcoholism and hastened his death. His feelings for Smith were quite sincere and you get the sense he even finds them to be romantic. But this is all when Smith is assumed to be facing the noose sooner rather than later. You see, Capote needs these men to die to provide the ending for his story, but it is through his own machinations the men are give appeals and stays of execution that keep Capote shuttling between New York City, Holcomb and Leavenworth Prison for nearly six years. At one point Capote tells his research assistant Harper Lee (Yes, that Harper Lee.) if a Supreme Court appeal is upheld he might have a nervous breakdown.
Incidentally, Harper Lee is played fantastically by Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich). Everyone is calling for Hoffman as a lock for his first Oscar nomination. I'm going with Keener as the one surefire nominee from this film.
Clifton Collins, Jr. (Traffic) is wonderful as Perry Edward Smith. For most of the film he steadfastly refuses to speak of the murders. Just comparing him to his accomplice you never get the sense he is the one capable of murder. OK...gonna ruin something for you here.
He did it. He killed all four of them. The only reason I tell you that is this. I saw this film in a very small arthouse type theater. It seats maybe 80 people, quite intimate. The theater also has a bar which is separated from the screening room by a curtain. At this very emotional point in the film, Smith is crying as he tells the story to an increasingly horrified Capote. Just then...laughter erupts from the bar. I'm talking hyena laughter here. It threw me off with its absurdity and let me in a disquieted mood the rest of the film.
Anyway, definitely go see this film and if you haven't read Capote's work you must.
Promise to be more prompt with the next post.
Those are stories for a different blog, faithful readers, but rest assured your scribe has not vanished entirely from this pseudo-world we call the information superhighway, World Wide Web...or as Al Gore calls it...mine.
I mark my triumphant, or at least nominally successful, return with a review of the film Capote, a bio-pic marking the nearly six-year odyssey that was Truman Capote's research and writing of his masterwork, In Cold Blood.
For those not in the know, In Cold Blood, is the masterfully worded tale of the shocking murder of a Kansas farm family in the late 1950's. Capote was able to describe the town and its emotions with perfection and the story progressed to follow the exploits, pursuit, arrest, conviction and eventual execution of the two murderers Perry Edward Smith and Dick Hickcock.
Capote, focuses on the man himself and the emotions he faced as what began as merely a prospective magazine article became that work that would define his career and experiences that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Truman Capote is played by the great Philip Seymour Hoffman who does not imitate Capote as much as he channels the man's spirit. Just read one page of a Capote novel or article and you can tell for all his peculiarities the man had a depth of emotion and intelligence paralleled be few and surpassed by even fewer.
But oh those peculiarities....Hoffman absolutely nails Capote's speech patterns, which can only be described as, distinctive. Hoffman is also able to mime the manner in which Capote was able to carry himself as a large than life figure, despite his diminutive frame and effete qualities.
The real treat of this film is the developing relationship between Capote and Perry Smith. When Capote first comes to the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, he tells the lead investigator (an always great Chris Cooper) he doesn't really care if the men responsible are ever caught. Once Smith and Hickcock are arrested, however, and Capote begins talking with the men, his entire attitude changes. We see Capote falling in love with Smith, and possibly vice versa. While at the same time we see both men using each other. Capote using Smith to get his story and Smith using Capote in an attempt to avoid execution.
You following me here? Good, because this paradox drove Capote to alcoholism and hastened his death. His feelings for Smith were quite sincere and you get the sense he even finds them to be romantic. But this is all when Smith is assumed to be facing the noose sooner rather than later. You see, Capote needs these men to die to provide the ending for his story, but it is through his own machinations the men are give appeals and stays of execution that keep Capote shuttling between New York City, Holcomb and Leavenworth Prison for nearly six years. At one point Capote tells his research assistant Harper Lee (Yes, that Harper Lee.) if a Supreme Court appeal is upheld he might have a nervous breakdown.
Incidentally, Harper Lee is played fantastically by Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich). Everyone is calling for Hoffman as a lock for his first Oscar nomination. I'm going with Keener as the one surefire nominee from this film.
Clifton Collins, Jr. (Traffic) is wonderful as Perry Edward Smith. For most of the film he steadfastly refuses to speak of the murders. Just comparing him to his accomplice you never get the sense he is the one capable of murder. OK...gonna ruin something for you here.
He did it. He killed all four of them. The only reason I tell you that is this. I saw this film in a very small arthouse type theater. It seats maybe 80 people, quite intimate. The theater also has a bar which is separated from the screening room by a curtain. At this very emotional point in the film, Smith is crying as he tells the story to an increasingly horrified Capote. Just then...laughter erupts from the bar. I'm talking hyena laughter here. It threw me off with its absurdity and let me in a disquieted mood the rest of the film.
Anyway, definitely go see this film and if you haven't read Capote's work you must.
Promise to be more prompt with the next post.
posted by The Crazy Leftist at 5:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home