Banal

Rating: 7/10 (10 October 2006)

This film portrays Truman Capote's interest in the brutal and enigmatic murder of a family in rural Kansa which led him to pen In Cold Blood. It focuses upon the personality of Capote as he wrestles with his feelings of intrigue in the details of the case, and his guilt as he begins to manipulate the lives of the subjects in order to best fulfil his literary ambition.
Much has been made of Hoffman's performance, and indeed it is an excellent one. He becomes Capote, and in the series of small rooms in which his character's effete charisma reigns, wonderfully conveys the eccentric writer's deep inner-tumult.
Hoffman's skills, however, are wasted on a mundane narrative. Scene follows scene with very little dramatic tension. Whilst the intrigue of these events centred around the shocking violence which intruded upon a peaceful setting, the screenwriter simply did not scratch beneath the surface of any of the characters to the extent that anything substantial is said about the murders themselves or Capote's interest in them. Vague, simplistic allusions stand in for the presence of the type of deft analysis that one might demand of a movie based around extremely tired events. Indeed, if it were not for Hoffman's sublime performance, his genius, this would be a dire two hours. Unfortunately, however, he can not create tension, profundity, insight, nor depth, where these qualities do not exist. As a result, the film languishes as a lavishly made and commandingly acted B-grade script.