Capote

I must say that I was surprised by Capote. Not that it was not what I expected it to be, it was. It was both stronger and weaker than I thought. First, reading a book is great but watching the creation of a book, though an interesting process, does not make for a very engaging film. Capote is a biopic but not in the strictest sense of the word. For one thing this only follows Capote during the four or so years during which he worked on In Cold Blood. The film truly starts when Truman wakes up one day, reads a newspaper article about a multiple homicide in Holcomb, Kansas, and decides that that is the topic for a The New Yorker article. Nearly 7 years later Capote has written In Cold Blood and has witnessed the execution of its antagonists Perry Smith and Richard Hickock.

Though the story may have been bland and tedious at times it is still riveting because of the overwhelming performance of Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote. Now studios do not like to make films that require an actor to do a good job to make the movie work, but with the success of the biopic in recent time from A Beautiful Mind to last year’s Ray things have opened up a bit. And fortunately there have been actors up to the task of bringing these people to life. It is hard to believe that this is the same man who was in Twister, and Red Dragon, and Along Came Polly. Hoffman inhabits Capote in a way that makes him come alive onscreen from his distinctive nasal voice to his stiff posture to his feminine mannerisms. Hoffman’s Capote makes himself at home in early 1960’s hip New York scene with his amusing narcissism and completely alienated in rural Kansas while researching the murders about which he will write his masterpiece.

Capote’s true revelation is in the creative process of writing such a profoundly personal and astonishing ‘nonfiction novel’ as In Cold Blood. It is the point of a writer, to watch and listen and to write about something whether real or invented. If it is true that Truman Capote became as involved in the lives and the appeals of the Kansas murderers then his aims and his writing is tainted by a bias. The interesting thing about this film is that it does not shy away completely from this catch-22; instead it presents Capote’s changing whims and attitudes as part of the unflinching portrayal without stopping to contemplate the morals potentially betrayed by his behavior.

Though the film does not shy away from the issue of whether Capote befriended the accused murderers or just uses them for his story it does not come down on either side to praise or condemn him. Hoffman’s Capote wavers between sharing intimate details of his past in warm conversation with the accused to ignoring their telegrams for long stretches and hoping that their appeals will run out so that he can complete his book. There is no real note that Capote took this case into himself so thoroughly. What there is evidence of is that Truman Capote never finished another novel and died a heavy user of drugs and alcohol. Whether that is because of his intense relation to the material of In Cold Blood and to the nature of his behavior to those involved in the Clutter case or to his own creative shortcomings is unknown. But the conjecture of the film is that the creation of In Cold Blood not only took many years but required a level of self revelation and yet of callousness that left Capote unable to cope.

Not to be overlooked are the secondary characters in this film. First and foremost is Catherine Keener as the writer Harper Lee, a longtime friend of Capote’s who traveled with him to Kansas as a research assistant to discover the story of the Clutter murders. Keener is a Southern belle of the matter of fact variety who takes Capote’s blustering with a grain of salt and calls him out when his extravagant behavior jeopardizes his story or his relationships. Another character of interest is Kansas detective Alvin Dewey played by Chris Cooper. Dewey personifies the Midwestern town which is horrified by the murders but matter of fact about solving the crime and dispatching the culprits. Cooper plays Dewey as a kind man, quiet and determined who does not at all take to Capote and his high flying ways. Dewey is there to get the job done. He represents the town and he is there the day the bodies are found and he is there the day, many years later, when the murderers are executed for their crime. The most astonishing is Clifton Collins Jr.’s turn as the death row inmate Perry Smith. Collins Jr., previously seen in Traffic, intrigues the audience much as he must have intrigued Capote, as a man capable of compassion and improvement but who when given a poor lot made the poorest choices possible with relish. Clifton Collins Jr.’s role should surely earn his notice at awards time for supporting actor.

Overall Capote is a dull and drawn out film. A significant amount of patience is required to allow the film to reveal itself. Much like last year’s Ray this is a film built entirely on the performance of one actor, in this case Philip Seymour Hoffman’s affected Capote. But Capote offers much more material for contemplation that the shallow Ray ever could. Each of Truman Capote’s actions can be dissected and analyzed for its ulterior motive as can the actions of each of the main characters. They all inhabit a world that is neither as fair nor as redeeming as it ought to be and each comes out poorer for the effort. The audience is the only one to gain an enriching and satisfying result from witnessing this character study.