Capote Review by Clint Morris
I've seen the future and I can tell you:
there's no biopics on general release about authors Tom Clancy, Judy
Nunn, Tom Robbins, Stephen Hunter or Lloyd Alexander. Not
that they wouldn't have made interesting subjects - some of them most
definitely would have - but compared to the Truman Capote biopic
released at the shallow end of the noughties, their stories were - for
lack of a better word - more normal than going in a trial walk in a
pair of shoes before buying. Truman Capote, on the other hand, now
there's a chap whose life was as fascinating as his make-up. Just try
and argue that he wasn't weird - you'll lose every time.
He
speaks funny, he's more eccentric than a hippie
running a medieval costume store and he's loosely involved in a murder.
A tale of man and his love of a typewriter this surely isn't. In fact,
the Blickensderfer 5 barely gets any screen time compared to the
compelling underbelly bubbling above the loam the legendary author
walked.
Though a fairly famous writer in his own right (he wrote, among other things, the lovely Breakfast at Tiffany's), Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is about to write the best book of our times. In Cold Blood,
would be based on the real life tale of two young men who brutally
murdered a family of four at their farmhouse in rural Kansas. With his
notebook, peculiar personality and eagerness to hear - Capote, via the
two men on death row (though it's one that he befriends to a great
extent) - learns the truth about the night, and gets the ending he was
clandestinely hoping for.
If Scott J in Boogie Nights (1998) and Rusty Zimmerman in Flawless (1999) were the tasty base, and Lester Bangs in Almost Famous (2000) and Dan Mahowny in Owning Mahowny
(2003) were the delicious creamy middle than Truman Capote is the
scrumptious icing ON the cake for Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is the
role the versatile actor has been working himself up to all these
years, and he doesn't spoil the opportunity. As Capote, the man is
immersing, powerful and instantly credible. He's got the mannerisms,
the look, the voice, the personality down pat. It's as if he walked
straight out of a golden-age newsreel.
There's more to the film
than Hoffman's performance, though it's undeniably the highlight. The
screenplay - by actor Dan Futterman (The Birdcage) - isn't
preachy or pushy merely insightful and compelling, the supporting
performances are winning, beefy back up (Keener is especially good as
Capote's friend, author Lee Harper, of To Kill a Mockingbird fame), and the direction is rich and clear-cut.
The performance you'll see in Capote
is easily the best of the year.. actually, the best of any year. It's
one of those turns that'll be remembered for years to come - up with
Welles in Citizen Kane, Brando in The Godfather, Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and De Niro in The Deer Hunter. Pure brilliance. 4 out of 5
Capote
Australian release: 23rd Feb, 2006.
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Chris Cooper, Clifton Collins Jr., Bruce Greenwood
Director: Bennett Miller
Website:
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