Philip Seymor Hoffman finds
triumph in stillness
Film in Focus
By David Giarrizzo
|  "Capote"
is a captivating, if complex, look at the high point
of the life of Truman Capote, who has produced some
of the most compelling literature of the 20th Century.
This is one remarkable film with several exceptional
performances highlighted by Phillip Seymour Hoffman
in the lead role. Hoffman is awesome as the "In
Cold Blood" author exploring and writing his celebrated
non-fiction novel. Like some kind of mastermind sleuth,
Capote is depicted profiling two murderers and the atrocious
crime they committed.
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Already on staff at the New Yorker under renowned editor
William Shawn, in 1959 Capote was probing for a topic to write
about. Like some primeval precursor of the fact-based "Law
& Order" chains of true-crime stories, he scouted
out an article in the New York Times that would, as he envisaged,
transform the character of fiction in our time and forever.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's unmistaken and haunting performance
as Truman Capote should make him the one to watch for every
Best Actor honor imaginable. Hoffman, an actor's-actor , decided
to take, after an honorable independent career (Owning Mahoney,
Love Liza, Boogie Nights, Big Lebowski), a big chance on what
might be considered the Sleeper of the Year. Great acting
is formless, impossible to define in the written form, however,
obvious when observed. When you experience it with stunning
lucidity in this landmark portrayal, Hoffman gets not only
the public, flaming intellectual, but also the frail and impressionable
side of the whimsical meddler who sached through New York
literary circles. The real triumph is inward, the way he finds
the quietness in Capote and fear in his eyes when what he
realizes the harsh reality in this world reduces him to daunted
hush. Nothing impressed Capote more than the period (1959
to 1965) that he spent studying and constructing In Cold Blood,
his ground-breaking nonfiction novel about the slaughter of
the Clutter family from Holcomb, Kansas, and the two ex-convict
transients who executed them for a small amount of cash.
Capote transcends from just a mordant, gossipy favored writer
during the 1960s, to a damaged soul with personal history
so overwhelming that he somehow takes consolation in the torment
of others. The cautious discourse allows for Capote, his friends,
and his darling destroyers to be assessed, found, and identified
in a first-hand level. The same poise of character development
is given to Perry Smith, the murderer, and to Neil Harper
Lee, his unwavering friend, individual ethics, and highly
believable portrayals. While they are on screen you come to
know them from a level far above the median, and, as the actors
take the material and explore the possibilities, an arrangement
of multifaceted personalities comes to life.
Accompanying Capote on his research trips is his friend,
Nelle Harper Lee, soon to attain recognition herself as the
author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and Catherine
Keener plays her with unobtrusive steadfastness. The film
gives great attention to detail, which generates a strong
sense of the era and the revulsion of the nature of the crime
and the reckoning that follows. Somehow, the audience has
empathy for Perry despite what his actions, and the execution
scene is unsettling, as it was in Capote’s book. The
film, however, doesn’t explore the relationship between
Smith and Hickock with as much profundity as the novel, as
that the focus here is on Capote and not the secondary players.
Therefore, the back staging of Lee and Hickcock is appropriate.
Even with the incredible acting, wonderful genre accurate
sets, complete with vintage automobiles and distressed buildings
and roads, there was a missing element. Too little focus on
Capote’s personal history from a non-biographical angle,
leads the audience into not ever really knowing him as a whole
person. We are given tidbits of common ground with Smith and
his childhood traumas, but we never get to see him as a child,
or a teen, or an awkward young man discovering himself and
his sexuality.
The focus seems to be more on the book In Cold Blood rather
than the man Capote. Perhaps they should have renamed it The
Making of Cold Blood for a more accurate description of this
film. I liked it, but I think I liked it better when it was
called Dead Man Walking. Somehow, I found Susan Sarandon more
appealing to my eye, but, hey, that’s just my own personal
taste.
Grade: B
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