Great....

Rating: 9/10 (15 May 2006)

After a brutal murder of a Kansas City family, Truman Capote (Phillip Seymour Hoffman Empire Falls) a writer for the New Yorker begins doing research for his book In Cold Blood. He plans on researching on the small town's reaction to the murders that have just recently occurred. He is help by his friend Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener, The 40 Year Old Virgin) and is guided through the town by F.B.I. agent and friend to the victims Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper, Seabiscuit). Here Capote visits Perry Edward Smith (Clifton Collins Jr., Life of the Party) and begins to realize that they have similarities between each other. With the same troubling family background that Capote and Smith have, they begin to have a relationship with each other. Capote is then trying to write his next book about the murders, trying to get all the information that he needs from Smith while trying to delay his death sentence as long as possible. This film was great because it gives the image to the killers that they are sorry for what they have done to the Kansas City Family and are trying to find forgiveness for their actions, although they aren't going to receive any sympathy from anyone besides Capote. This leaves the question of whether or not the death sentence is the right form of punishment for one's actions. And to have the notion that Capote was a homosexual left me thinking was he attracted to Perry Smith or was he just sympathetic to him? Phillip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Truman Capote is everything that the Academy should be looking for in the 'best actor in a leading role category.' I've always been a fan of Hoffman, regardless of what he has been in, so seeing him play this role was far from disappointing to me. The way that the film was shown in a shade of gray was the most visual part of the film and definitely left me feeling empty. Maybe that's what Capote was feeling through this whole time. Either way, it was a great film that left questioning afterwards up to the audience, in which can lead to several theoretical discussions.