Olympian performance by Hoffman

Rating: 8/10 (24 April 2014)

Hoffman's passing warrants reconsideration of this exceptional film, one that places extraordinary demands on truly attentive viewers but that also rewards. Hoffman's capturing and channeling of New York literary scene cocktail party Capote, in which Capote is at once vicious and savage but also endearing and entrancing, exasperating and paradoxical, is among the best thespianism ever put to celluloid: Hoffman catches lightning and controls it utterly. Catherine Keener's performance as Harper Lee is affable, but perhaps not an authentic depiction of the irremediably solipsistic and often self-defeating Lee. Every performance from this huge cast is handsome and crisp, and the film's makers clearly grasp and convey the grandeur of this long episode in Capote's life. The script contains enough episodes, exchanges, and protean depictions of Capote to allow watchers to formulate opinions about a man not readily formulable even if its handling has a fine penumbra of froideur and humorlessness.