Capote Review Country : USA Year: 2005 Genre: Drama/Thriller Format: Cinema Running Time: 98 mins Distributor: United Artists/Sony Pictures Classics A talented but tormented alcoholic writer aspires to scribe a book about an unspeakably evil crime, but its toll upon him is irreversable. Credits Directed by Bennett Miller. Written by Dan Futterman and Gerald Clarke. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Bob Balaban and Chris Cooper. The true-life crime tale of the Clutter family murders in 1959 remains a part of Americana, and the effect of this senseless (and mostly unprofitable) atrocity brought the unassuming township of Holcolmb, Kansas to national prominence at the time. Celebrated writer Truman Capote read about the killings in the newspaper and decided to write an article about it. Upon visiting Holcolmb, interviewing local officials and townspeople and sizing up the event, Capote quickly realized that this was the material to fill a book, not a mere article. Moreover, it would be the first non-fiction book which read with the entertaining pace of a fictional novel. Capote would make sure of that. Philip Seymour Hoffman's riveting performance as the title character of Capote is noteworthy for several choices he made. The most telling is his desire to portray the writer with as ambiguous motivation as he could. Who knew what Truman Capote truly had in mind when he was befriending--and interviewing--convicted killer Perry Smith? Was he sincerely interested in finding this young hellion's gentle side and perhaps influencing the courts to spare him the death penalty? Or was he merely exploiting the lad to write a book and make a buck? And as for Perry Smith (a compelling Clifton Collins Jr.), is this low-rent shotgun killer actually appealing to the New York author for genuine sympathy, or is he merely telling him what he wants to here in favor of being spared the Kansas gallows? Ambiguity aside, Hoffman also fills the character with a PR side, in which he is seen several times at parties, premieres, readings, etc., chatting it up with contemporaries of the day. Later, he's seen in lonely hotel rooms, barely able to put together a coherent sentence because of his inebriation. Indeed, he's got a drink in his hand for perhaps 75% of the time. Meanwhile, Catherine Keener (most recently seen as the hot mom in The 40 Year Old Virgin) plays writer Harper Lee, Capote's confidante, who is shortly to receive acclaim for her classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird. With a dignity that recalls Mary Steenburgen's best work, the demure Keener steals just about every scene she's in. Director Bennett Miller makes many sharp turns in transitioning scene from scene, though the final product still manages to move at an arrestingly slow pace. But that's not a bad thing. The performances drive Capote, not the murder mystery element. Perhaps that's because there's no mystery to begin with. If we've done our homework, we go into this picture with the fore-knowledge that the Clutter family were murdered, the killers were caught, convicted and eventually hanged, and then Capote published the book. Indeed, the scene in which Perry Smith ascends the gallows, with Capote watching from nearby, brings to mind the harsh reality of the death penalty and how it changes a person who has witnessed it carried out. Some notable supporting performances grace the film, starting with the great Chris Cooper as the local sheriff Alvin Dewey, who gradually becomes a friend of Capote's but still balks at the notion of either killer not getting what's coming to them. Bruce Greenwood appears as Capote's lover, and whose involvement occasionally moves the narrative to Costa Brava, Spain. The ever-dependable Bob Balaban is solid, as always, as Capote's editor. And Mark Pellegrino gives a meat-and-taters portrayal of Richard Hickock, Perry Smith's wide-eyed (and unrepentant) co-hort in the crime. As the tale draws to a close, instead of drawing the characters' motivations in, it actually allows them to fan out further. Will the deaths of the two inmates actually give Capote the peace he seeks? He still doesn't have an ending to his book, after all. And one scene, in which a press clipping has revealed to Smith the title of Capote's work in progress, manages to plant a lump straight in the viewer's throat--right before we remember that the title In Cold Blood still applies. Capote the PR guy hems and haws out of the confrontation, and we see what an insincere cad and a liar he can be. But is it really his fault? Capote is not a flattering portait of Truman Capote. Nor is it a hatchet job. It is, instead, a well-acted, finely-executed piece of filmmaking that not only illuminates the aftermath of an horrific crime but also illustrates the efforts that went into trying to explain the same crime. At the same time, it also delves into the brilliant mind of the writer who made a fortune off the finished product--then never published another book. OFFICIAL SITE DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS Review by Petch Lucas, for Pitofhorror.com