Mr. Black's Grade: A-

Rating: 8/10 (5 October 2005)

Capote Mr. Black's Grade: A- Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Catherine Keener, Chris Cooper, Clifton Collins Jr. and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Capote is handled with great skill by Bennett Miller, a very talented director in what appears to be his first fiction film. That is truly amazing to me.
Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Truman Capote as he does the research for his novel "In Cold Blood", an account of the murder of a Kansas family. During his research the writer develops a close relationship with Perry Smith, one of the killers. I love the fact that the film only covers the four to five years that it took to write the book, rather than Capote's whole career.
The cast delivers a strong performance, and we WILL hear about this come Oscar time! Philip Seymour Hoffman is wonderful in the title role, with strong support from Chris Cooper, Bob Balaban and especially Catherine Keener. Keener plays Nelle Harper Lee, Capote's research assistant, who just happens to go on to write this little book called "To Kill a Mockingbird". A new find for me was Clifton Collins Jr., who played Perry Smith, and whose last big credit was as the voice of 'Cesar Vialpando' in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas". We will certainly see more of this actor.
Although the film drags a bit in the middle, I was never quite sure if Capote was truly friendly with Perry Smith, or just using him to get his great book published. However, I figure there is one way for me to find out - by reading "In Cold Blood", the last novel Capote ever completed. Imagine, a film driving a person to read! Shocking.