Great performance, touching movie

Rating: 8/10 (10 December 2006)

What is the best thing about Capote? None other that a truly great and flawless performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman as the late novelist Truman Capote. The movie takes us into the antics of a famous openly-gay writer who has found the possible topic for his next novel: the murder of a family in rural Kansas. Unlike many of today's Hollywood movies, this one focuses entirely on the characters, especially in the relationship that slowly develops between Capote and Perry Smith, one of the brutal killers. Capote uses Smith to get vital information from the killings but as he does, he finds himself at a crossroads, developing a fascination for the man and slowly falling in love. Nevertheless, his ambition to obtain information from Perry to make his new book over shadows the depth of his feelings. The climax of such a profound movie is found when Capote meets Perry for the last time and breaks down before the killer's imminent death. A powerful story and a truly great performance makes for a good movie that lacks intensity and that fails to keep us entertained at some points.