Movie Review: Capote Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener

Truman Capote is probably best known for his true crime novel In Cold Blood, a retelling of the brutal murder of an entire family in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. This film begins when Capote (played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman) first hears of the story of the four murders and gets the help of his good friend Nelle (better known to the world as Harper Lee, played by Catherine Keener) as he travels to Kansas to get the story for an article in The New York Times.

Capote finds much more in Holcomb than he bargained for...an entire town deeply affected by the brutal murders and exclusive access to the two murderers, one of which has a profound influence on his life. As the days stretch to months Capote compiles all the information he needs for a book that would stop the literary world in its tracks at great personal emotional sacrifice.

It's almost impossible not to compare this film to Infamous, a film that was released shortly after Capote and covered the exact same story. In my opinion even if you've seen Infamous this film is still worth watching because it offers an interesting comparison in the ways the respective directors interpret the events.

I have been asked which Capote I liked better between Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Infamous's Toby Jones...and I honestly have no idea. After seeing Infamous I thought no one could possibly do the role of Truman Capote better than Toby Jones and so far I think I'm right...but Phillip Seymour Hoffman certainly did every bit as well as Jones's performance. Both did such a masterful performance that I really can't choose a favorite between the two and both are well worth watching if only to compare the two actors.

For secondary characters Capote did a decent job in Catherine Keener even though her role was minor and rather unlikable, though looking at pictures of the real Harper Lee one can see that Keener does bear some resemblance to her...and surprisingly so does Sandra Bullock who played the same role in this film's counterpart. Other secondary characters were sadly lacking, though it's mostly noticed in the role of Perry Smith, the murderer who stole Capote's interest and, it is said, his heart. In Infamous the role was played to a T by Tommy Lee Jones, but in Capote Clifton Collins Jr. put in a pretty lackluster and completely unmemorable performance. True, Capote didn't give nearly as much screen time to the killer as the other film did but that doesn't completely excuse one of the main players being so utterly forgettable. Chris Cooper puts in an appearance as the town sheriff and does get a little bit of quality screen time, but for the talented actor I know he is I kind of expected a bit more chance to see him in this film.

Finally, I was pretty disappointed with the on-screen chemistry in this film...namely that there just isn't any. This is about an emotionally-charged story where everyone gets involved even if they're just reporting and one should see SOME emotion showing on that screen. Granted, Hoffman brings the emotion pretty well in a couple of scenes but nearly every other person in the cast just isn't showing it...good or bad emotion, it just isn't there. Hoffman and Collins were the two that are fairly expected to make some sort of on-screen connection but I wasn't at all convinced that these were two men that knew anything at all about the other much less someone Capote was researching, trying to find help for, and allegedly had other feelings for as well.

The overall feel of this movie is pretty stark...it's quiet, even tones, and so on that help one focus on the gravity of the situation and seems to try to convey a completely unsensationalized story that I really liked, it's a pretty depressing atmosphere but goes perfectly with this depressing story.

In all I have to say I enjoyed Infamous a bit more than Capote though I am still glad to have seen this film if only to see Hoffman's performance as he did do an amazing job. Capote seems to have done a better job of putting the money they had to good use but nonetheless had a somewhat lacking film in comparison to its counterpart. As a standalone film, though, this is one of the best dramas I've seen in a long time and about the only actor I'd really fault for bringing it down at all is Collins...sorry, he just didn't impress me. No, I probably won't be adding this to my personal collection anytime soon but I certainly recommend it to all of my friends who enjoy dramas (made even better for being about true events) and don't mind a definite depressing touch.