Capote

[polkablues]

That's weird... that song came out like 35 years later.

[cowboykurtis]

i'm suprised by the lack of discussion re: Capote.

Is there a lack of availability due to its limited release or are people just not interested or have you all seen it and have nothing to say?

just curious about your thoughts...

[Ghostboy]

It's only opening outside of NY and LA today, so I imagine more people (including myself, having missed the press screening last month) will see it starting tonight. I'm excited.

[mutinyco]

It's very well done. One of the most accurate depictions of artistic ruthlessness I've seen.

[Ravi]

SOME SPOILERS








Fascinating film about Capote's obsession with the story of the Clutter murders.  It absolutely consumes him for years of his life.  He's obsessed with the story because it not only is great source material for a book, but also because he feels a deep connection to Perry Smith, who, like Capote, was abandoned by his parents.  Towards the end he desperately wants an ending to the story (the execution of Smith and Hickock), and he declines to find a lawyer for their Supreme Court appeal after finding them a better lawyer earlier.  He sympathizes with Perry (Richard Hickock is not in the film much), and yet, he sensationally titles his book In Cold Blood.  He is both deeply connected to Perry and researching what he knows will become a great and infamous book.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance could have easily become an imitation or caricature, given the Truman Capote's high-pitched voice and often flamboyant mannerisms and speech, but he makes him real.  He will be nominated for an Oscar.  

The look of it is standard Super 35 cinematography, with lots of close-ups, but it captures the gloomy mood of the story.

[md]

SOME SPOILERS


 He will be nominated for an Oscar.  
.

Just saw it tonight, and I second that opinion

[72teeth]

spoiler:

He will lose to R. Crowe...

[w/o horse]

Harper Lee coming up to the drunk, alone Capote at the To Kill a Mockingbird premiere was such a powerful scene.  A well made movie all around, despite the old lady in front of me falling asleep and snoring during the movie.  The material was handled in a nice mature and subjective manner, good subtlety, which was refreshing.  I'm not sure the story is powerful enough for the movie to linger with me, but if it does I won't be upset.

[Ultrahip]

72 teeth, when you say he will lose to R. Crowe, do you mean for Cinderella Man? And if so, are you joking? Russel Crowe was pretty good and all...but Hoffman in this is a goddamned jawdropper and milestone performance. He's beyond hyperbole.

[72teeth]

Yeah, i was kidding, but the academy has already given Crowe one undeserved oscar and they have snubbed Hoffman for years, so, maybe it's not that far fetched...

[Ultrahip]

you make a valid point

[JG]

More people need to see and discuss this movie.  Best of the year from what I've seen.  The plot is pretty familiar territory, but Capote is such an intriguing character the movie works. 

It's hard to feel any emotional connectedness with such loathsome characters, but it's hard not to feel intrigued by them.  This is what fuels the movie.   Philip Seymour Hoffman, in what may be the best of a long list of great performances by him, is not so much a caricature of Capote as much as he is Capote.    There are no redeeming qualities in Truman Capote and certain actions make it hard to sympathize with him, yet we still are fascinated by what makes him tick.   We can accredit this to Hoffman's convincing performance, in what will likely earn him an Oscar nomination. 

3 1/2 stars out of 4. 

[life_boy]

This really is a good film and the acknwoledgement already given to Hoffman's performance is very much deserved.  I think this film worked and it was more moving than I first expected.  It is slowly paced but I didn't find it boring (the guy sitting beside me walked out 20 minutes in...I don't know what the hell he was expecting).  Capote avoids many of the "artist biopic" clichés (the "life as greatest hits collection" especially) and just focues on the most defnining event in Capote's life as a writer and human being -- the discovery, research and writing of In Cold Blood.  It was very well shot, surprisingly so.  There is a certain desolation in some of the landscape shots that directly relate to the desolation of the events and the killers -- also to Truman Capote himself. 

SPOILER
One biopic cliché that the film unfortunately gives in to, albeit breifly, is the "You're a genius! You broke the mold!" scene.  The scene where Bob Balaban sits Capote down after reading the first two parts of In Cold Blood and tells him "this is going to change how people write" doesn't quite work for me.  One reason I hate the scene is Capote acts like he doesn't want the praise when it's (finally) given to him.  He has clearly been seeking some kind of acclaim throughout the film, even before he had started writing the book.  I hated the scene in Pollock, I hated the scene in Ray and hated the scene in Capote.  Other than that one scene, the movie does well avoiding these scenes, partially because it doesn't let Capote be the "disaffected artist who doesn't care what people say or think".  We know that he cares; that's part of what makes him intruiging.  The film does not overlook Capote's narcissism...except in this one scene.

[killafilm]

I'll join the club and praise Hoffman's performance.  Hoffman alone would be worth watching the movie for.  But you also get a great supporting cast led by Keener playing against type (shes not a bitch!) as Harper Lee.  There's some gorgeous photography, with great close ups, and I loved the shots of the prison that lacked all but a hint of color.  In a weird way this movie stirred the same emotions that I got out of The Pianist.  Must be something about the artistic struggle.

B+

[JG]

I was reminded a lot of Dead Man Walking during this.