Capote's Cold Blood
Hoffman Flawlessly Portrays Infamous Writer

Truman Capote has become one of those writers who many people know more by reputation than from having read his work. Growing up in Kansas, I heard about his novel In Cold Blood when I was a child. It had a tremendous impact on non-fiction writing, creating a new "non-fiction" novel, but perhaps the most interesting thing about the novel is the story of the man behind it. In Capote, the author and the novel are observed in equal measure in a film that captures the cool, calculating writer who became part of his story.

Capote
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in Capote. (Sony Pictures Classics, 2005)

Directed by: Bennett Miller
Written by: Dan Futterman
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr., Chris Cooper

Rated R (for some violent images and brief strong language)
Running time: 98 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 9 out of 10.

The film begins in 1958, with the brutal slaying of a Kansas family that would capture headlines across the nation. Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) reads a piece about the tragedy in the New York Times and decides that this story would be an interesting direction for his next novel. With his assistant, Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), he rushes off to the Heartland. The small Kansas town does not warmly welcome the man from the East Coast, until the KBI agent's wife recognizes him and invites him to dinner.

The film becomes an intimate portrait of a writer, more novelist than journalist. Capote does not carry a notepad (boasting a 94 percent memory retention of any conversation). He freely needles agent Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper) for information but then flippantly tells the KBI man that he's just trying to tell a story. He doesn't care if the suspects are caught. "Well I care," Dewey tells him. "Herb Clutter was a friend of mine."

There are no boundaries of decency blocking Capote from getting his story. Capote opens the closed caskets at the funeral home and looks at the gauze-covered heads of the Clutter family. He bribes the jailhouse secretary with breakfast and a signed copy of his book, then "accidentally" wanders into the kitchen area where a cell is holding one of the killers. When things seems to be moving too fast, Capote gets the suspects a new lawyer to appeal the trial (in the interest of justice, he insists). But when the only thing holding him back from finishing his book is the execution of the prisoners, he ignores pleas for more assistance in hopes that the end will come.

Capote must also struggle with professional jealousy when Harper Lee gets her first book (To Kill a Mockingbird) published before he can finish In Cold Blood. His treatment of Lee is appalling. His dismissal of her success is childish and unwarranted, yet it seems expected from a man who would pay a train porter to complement him on his work.

The reason to see Capote is to see Hoffman in what is likely to be an Oscar-winning performance. His portrayal of Truman Capote is uncanny. Seeing this film is to meet Capote, with his effeminate speech, flamboyant manner, and cold determinism. Hoffman does not lapse into parody, however. It would be so easy to over-do Capote's mannerisms and make him into a caricature. But Hoffman keeps his performance understated, making it all the more convincing.