Outstanding Character Study

Rating: 9/10 (11 November 2005)

By now there has been so much said about how great Philip Seymour Hoffman portrayed Capote in this movie, that it almost seems like hype. However, I found that Mr. Hoffman fully lived the Capote character and I admit to being transported back to my memory is as a child watching Truman Capote on the Johnny Carson and other talk shows. Having seen Mr. Hoffman in numerous other roles over the last 10 years, I firmly believe that this is amongst his absolute best work. I have always liked Mr. Hoffman and I feel this is at minimum Oscar nomination, if not Oscar award winning, material.
It can be very difficult for an actor to portray an iconic historical figure with believability. When I watched Leonardo DiCaprio portraying Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator", I found myself thinking several things. At times I actually thought I was truly viewing Howard Hughes. At other times I thought I was seeing Leonardo DiCaprio portraying Howard Hughes. And other times all I saw was Leonardo DiCaprio and I was saying to myself "He's not even portraying Howard Hughes". At no time during "Capote" did I ever feel that I was not seeing Truman Capote on screen. My commendations to Mr. Hoffman on such great work.
As to the movie itself, it was an excellent portrayal of an artist caught up in the subject of his work. Because of Mr. Capote's intense interest in his subject, he became extremely personally involved with the criminals. This intense involvement eventually lead to Mr. Capote's total destruction as an artist. Contrast, the character of Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" with the Perry Smith character from "In Cold Blood". The emotional involvement and emotional identification that Mr. Capote had with Perry Smith caused him to cease to be able to function as an artist, and eventually caused an early death for Mr. Capote. Mr. Capote vacated the light fluffy world of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and journeyed to the stark grim world of murder on the high plains. He made this journey physically, emotionally, and most importantly, artistically. The grimness of what really happens to innocent people, and the consequences for those were who perpetrate crimes on these innocent people was something that Mr. Capote could not avoid experiencing in a visceral manner. The acceptance and true understanding of this insight into the human psyche destroyed Mr. Capote.
The moving portrayal and its associated undercurrents was portrayed in a manner that most people should be able to understand. The movie is about an extremely violent crime and the psychology of what happens to the writer documenting the criminals following the crime. The violence is portrayed in a sensitive manner, because it needs to be there. We have to understand what actually happened, but thankfully, where spared from any sensationalism. This after all, is a study of the various characters involved, not a history rendition of the crime. This character study was written and directed in a very artful manner, and I believe we could see some Oscar nominations for the various other artists involved with the production of this movie.
Overall I would rate this movie as a must see for this year. Do not wait for it to come out on DVD. Go and see it in the theater.