Sublime Hoffman

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2019)

Have now seen this three times on Netflix and I cannot take my eyes off Hoffman. He is absolutely mesmerising, all the more for underplaying the character.
This doesn't feel like a biopic, ten minutes into the movie you forget it's based on a real life historical personality. The economy of the narrative is of great help, the movie concentrates on one aspect of Capote's life -his writing of In Cold Blood and the circumstances surrounding that- and treats it in depth.
Hoffman can convey an ocean of emotional nuance with the barest facial expression. During a couple of closeups of those deep blue eyes framed by the tow coloured hair I was sobbing myself silly. How I miss him!
The moral conflict at the centre of his research for the book is treated with the complex respect it deserves. There's no glossing over the deeply selfish way Capote goes about befriending the convict Perry (that's the other brilliant performance in the film), and his self awareness that he may have used a person at a gross disadvantage. Who says Hollywood doesn't do serious cinema? And it's done organically, through the dramatisation, without clunky voiceovers and talking heads.
Script outstanding, editing spare and effective in moving the story along, but this is Hoffman's hour. He is beyond mesmerising, smouldering, scintillating in the role.
With every movie of his I've seen, even when he was still a kid in Twister, I remember him long after I've forgotten the rest. I'm still in mourning at his passing. Did he want to write his own tragedy or was it a tragic mistake. What a performer, what a legacy!
Love you Philip!