Capote (Film) Review

 “There's such a lot of world to see. We're after the same rainbow's end,
waiting 'round the bend, my huckleberry friend …”

Those are some of the treasured lyrics to Moon River from the unforgettable Hollywood classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The naïve, eccentric Holy Golightly donning a black Givenchy dress, wearing her hair in a tall bun decorated with an ornate broach, blinking her lovely eyes spreading the splendor of Aurora Borealis, holding a long cigarette holder immortalized Audrey Hepburn both as a style icon and as an artist. A loose adaptation of Truman Capote’s novella under the same name, the movie made Capote a household name among the cinemagoers and that’s where I learned about him, henceforth this film became a must-watch for me.

Image Source - Wikipedia

Capote is a film with uncommon excellence; it mostly revolves around the time when Capote authors his most famous book In Cold Blood and later years when he struggles with a mental breakdown so strong that he’s not able to finish a single book.

The film opens with a farm shot with blowing crop; you know it’s dark right from the beginning: the lack of color, the frosty, wintry backdrop makes it quite obvious. And there a ghastly murder! Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the openly gay writer of Breakfast at Tiffany’s plans to cover the tragedy and travels all the way from New York to Kansas with his confidant Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener). There he interviews people, feels maladjusted because of the pariah-like reception he gets. Initially brushed off by Dewey (Chris Cooper), the lead detective, but then warmly welcomed by his wife, he somehow manages to speak to the suspects. In one of the pictures, he observes that the convicts put a pillow prior to killing the members of the Clutter family, as if singing them a lullaby to deep sleep. Riveted, he plans to write a non-fiction book documenting the killings. Rest of the story revolves around the ping-pong between the Capote’s buried love for Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.), one of the men and his lust for fame; how he gains Perry’s confidence (“I don’t want the world to think of you as monsters.”), the building of his affection for him, how Perry unveils his dark past and how each time on Perry’s inquiring, Capote convinces him that he had not started penning the book then even after having finished almost of the book. My favorite dialogue is between Nelle and Capote, when she realizes Capote’s feelings for Perry, after which he explains to her, “He and I grew up in the same house, while I took the front door, he took the backdoor.” Capote keeps finding lawyers to fend the case though there was an ulterior motive to it. The film ends with explicit execution of Perry and a distraught Capote crying to Nelle that he could have saved him, to which she replies, “Maybe not; the fact is you didn't want to…”

Philip Seymour Hoffman has portrayed the writer just as perfect as you could imagine. Playing an openly homosexual artist troubled with his fame and the affection he holds for a drifter isn’t easy. I saw Hoffman for the first time in ‘Punch-drunk Love’ as a sturdy goon running a phone sex business, the second time in Boogie Nights as a closeted gay man having strong feelings for the protagonist (And yes, there is the chronological discrepancy!), both of which are polar; led me into thinking with countless exclamation points, “What a fine actor! How versatile! Can play almost any character with the utmost ease!” This time contrary to the supporting roles, he is the protagonist himself. He wears the cloak of the writer so well that you can hardly figure he’s acting. You can sense each nuance, the slightest care he has lent – the way he puckers his lips when he sips a drink, the posture in which he sits with his legs tightly crossed against each other, the way he makes jokes, his speech, his voice – little does he falter. Clifton Collins is excellent as Perry Smith, with each detail well-studied, somehow reminds you of Steve Buscemi. Catherine Keener is amazing as Harper Lee and Capote’s close friend. The film in fact has several references to her book, “To Kill a Mockingbird” Rest of the actors, although brilliant shrink into vestiges.

Finally – Is the film actor’s or director’s? Undoubtedly, the actor’s! 

Rating - 5/5

© criticalramble.blogspot.com