Meticulously Crafted -- See the Movie or Read the Reviews?

Rating: 7/10 (13 August 2006)

Going into this film, I knew the following, from clips of the film on TV, clips of the real Truman Capote on TV, reviews of the film, and, just, cultural osmosis: * PS Hoffman does a bang up job of imitating Truman Capote.
* Truman Capote was a charming wordsmith who could wrap people around his little finger and get whatever he wanted from them.
* Truman Capote wrote a "non-fiction novel," "In Cold Blood," about the murder of an innocent family in Kansas, and the killers of that family.
* Capote exploited others' tragedy to gain fame.
* "In Cold Blood" was hugely successful and its success catapulted Capote into superstar status. Success went to his head; he became an alcoholic and a self-parody, and never finished another book.
I mean ... just from cultural osmosis ... you know all that going in to this movie.
So, why bother seeing the movie? I can't think of any good reason. This movie didn't deliver more than what I got from seeing clips of it on awards shows, or reading reviews of it.
There is really nothing else there. You do get stewed in 1960s architecture and fashions. It's like you are in a time capsule. But that's not what art is supposed to do.
The film itself is meticulously crafted. There are scenes that look like Edward Hopper paintings, scenes that look like stills from Film Noir ... so what? There weren't any scenes that offered me any insights into the main characters that I didn't have before I saw the film. I got no new insights into Capote, or into fame, or into Capote's relationship with Harper Lee, or into Perry Smith, the killer the film focuses on. I learn more about the mind of a killer by watching a TV tabloid program like "Dateline NBC." So, all in all, this is a very pretty movie, and if you are into 1960s kitsch, you'll really want to see this.
But this is also a film that deals with the murder of four innocent people -- these murders are shown, on screen -- if you keep your eyes open, you will see a man with his throat cut, writhing as his neck spurts blood, as he dies -- it's a veritable Al Qaeda decapitation video -- and this is a film that features the capital punishment of two characters. Perry Smith is shown being hung by the neck until dead.
And this film's pretty 1960s nostalgia, and PS Hoffman's meticulously crafted imitation of Truman Capote, are not enough to honor the weight of the subject matter the film attempts to handle, but fails to present with any new insights.
After watching this entire film, I did not once cry, or even feel sad, not even for a moment, not for a single character, but I did experience admiration for whomever found all those 1960s cars and ashtrays. Given the subject matter, that reaction is not a good sign.