an actor's film- all the director has to do is stand back and not get in the way (much)

Rating: 8/10 (4 February 2006)

A film like Capote works due to two things- the credibility of the story, and it's casting. The director doesn't have to do THAT much, though for what it's worth Bennet Miller does a good job setting up a dark mood for much of the film, with maybe a little much hand-held camera-work to add the 'indie' touch, but some chilling music as well. But, as Robert Altman once said, 85% of the director's job is usually in the casting, and it's here that Miller scores his points. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the likely pick for the Oscar, and while it's of course un-fair to ever pick a definite winner over other good performances, Hoffman here scores a nifty triumph into his catalog of character-actor parts. He creates a pure dimension in this character of Truman Capote, who in real life had a lot of hubris with his writing, though also had enough sensitivity and observance of the truth, however grisly. His book 'In Cold Blood' I have not yet read, though from the story presented from the facts in this film, it's definitely quite the intriguing one, especially when we get introduced into the mind-set of Perry Smith.
Truman, with author Harper Lee (Catherine Keener, a good though not brilliant performance as more of a smaller character than anything), goes to investigate four killings in Kansas in 1959. Perry Smith and his partner in crime Dick Hickock get a quick trial and sentenced to death, but over the years of appeals, Capote keeps visiting Smith in his jail cell- in between his elite social engagements and drinks (and writing, of course)- trying to get the ultimate truth about November 14th of 59. It's in these scenes, between Hoffman and Clifton Collins Jr as Perry Smith, that the film becomes totally, can't-leave-eyes-from-the-screen watchable film-making. The cinematography by Adam Kimmel is effective in its use of shadows and bits of light, and the shocking part of the sort of 'revelation' in the final cell meeting to Capote is very shocking. Miller, who's only other credit is a documentary film from years back, doesn't hold back on that flashback.
It's in the scenes when Capote finally becomes vulnerable, and breaks his hubris in his moral conflict, that Hoffman strikes some rich ground. His is a character that is highly respected among is peers, admired almost to the heavens as the 'inventor of the non-fiction novel'. In some of these scenes it actually isn't all that strong, however necessary they are for the story. It's when it comes down to this kind of intense, duplicitous kind of investigating and connection between the writer and the killer that the drama runs high. And it is well worth to note that although acting all around in the film is top notch, Collins Jr is in a true breakout performance here, as a person with a lot of deep wounds and terrible vibes behind his 'sensitive side'. It almost becomes a tad manipulative on the director, though it's through getting in the first hour- which almost rushes through the kind of procedure of researching and writing a book of this sort- for the good stuff. Anyone who's interested in film acting would do well to see at least the crucial parts of this film, as it has some of the best contained in any film of 2005.