An intellectually engaging experience.

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2006)

This biopic of the eccentric American author Truman Capote focuses all its attention on the years between 1959 and 1965, when Capote toiled on his nonfiction novel "In Cold Blood," the groundbreaking portrait of two murderers in the heartland of America. In a much-lauded performance, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Truman Capote, making his extremely affected mannerisms quite compelling, and eventually unnoticeable. It's a terrific performance. However, Hoffman's character is really the only person in the film whose personality is really developed; Catherine Keener, Bruce Greenwood (for once not cast as a villain), Chris Cooper, and Clifton Collins ,Jr. all flit through the picture, giving solid performances, but none receives enough screen time to really matter. Keener, in particular, is receiving many awards and nominations for a performance that, quite frankly, doesn't get enough development (no slight to Keener, who is a wonderful performer). I liked "Capote", but I think it would have benefited from expanding its focus onto the wide range of secondary characters that exist in the film. There's little emotional resonance to the events the occur; my appreciation for it was primarily intellectual.