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| Capote |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 98 |
| Public Rating: 8.81 (37 votes) |
Director: Bennett Miller |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Drama/Crime |
Year: 2005 |
| Writer(s): Dan Futterman, Gerald Clarke (biography) |
| Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics |
| Reviewed by: Mel Valentin |
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Directed by Bennett Miller from a screenplay by Dan Futterman (who based his screenplay on Gerald Clarke's exhaustive biography), Capote is a somber character study of an ambitious, talented writer, Truman Capote, and the Faustian bargain he seemingly struck with two killers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith in the early 1960s to obtain literary success through the publication of a true-crime novel In Cold Blood (Capote controversially called it a "non-fiction novel"). Capote's emotional, manipulative (and some would argue, exploitative) relationship with Perry Smith over more than a five-year period left him unequivocally compromised, and ultimately, emotionally and mentally exhausted from his experiences.
First, some background on Truman Capote (something the film doesn't offer viewers, either as opening title cards, voice over narration, or early dialogue scenes to explain Capote's backstory or his previous success as a writer). At one point, Capote was known as much for his reputation as a raconteur (he had a quick wit and a subtle mind for verbal quips) as his respected, if thin, literary output. With his high-pitched voice, flamboyant gestures, and slight frame, Capote was easily identifiable wherever he went. Capote's extroverted showmanship allowed him to enter the rarefied air of Manhattan's social and cultural elite. His novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, was turned into a commercially successful film in 1960, with Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in the lead roles.
Capote opens with the aftermath of the murders at the center of In Cold Blood. In November, 1959, Herb Clutter, a wealthy farmer, his wife, and two of his children are brutally, senselessly murdered by two parolees, Richard Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) and Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) who mistakenly believed the Clutters kept $10,000 in cash in a safe on their property. Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman), fishing for ideas in The New York Times comes across an article describing the murders. He enlists the financial support of William Shawn (Bob Balaban), his editor at The New Yorker and his childhood friend, Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), to act as his research assistant and companion in Kansas.
When he arrives in Kansas, Hickock and Smith have yet to be identified, and Capote's attempts to ingratiate himself with local law enforcement authorities fall flat (due to his flamboyant personality and clothing). With Harper's help, Capote makes himself more acceptable to the locals, including the Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), the detective assigned to the Clutter murders, and Alvin's wife, Marie (Amy Ryan), a fan of Capote's previous work. Capote uses his stature as a celebrity to open doors (literally in one scene), first softening Alvin's resistance and later, gaining access to Perry Smith. Capote first gains Smith's attention (and acceptance) by offering Smith aspirin, and later, encouraging Smith's interest in literature. Smith keeps a journal, which Capote sees as a means into uncovering Smith's history and personality. Hickock and Smith, however, have been already sentenced to death. Capote shrewdly obtains legal assistance to forestall the inevitable. It works, at least for several years.
From there, Capote focuses almost exclusively on the relationship between Capote and Smith, as they develop an emotional attachment founded, at least in part, on mutual emotional need and common histories. Capote, however, gets drawn into a dilemma. The months and years spent researching and writing In Cold Blood will go to waste without an ending to the non-fiction novel. The ending depends, of course, on Hickock and Smith's appellate appeals of their death sentence, but also on whether Capote can turn the final screw and cajole Smith into offering a first-person account of the murders (i.e., the whys and the hows). Capote's conflict, between his emotional attachment to Smith (Hickock is given minimal screen time here) and his desire to end the novel, and thus obtain the literary success he longs for (and expects), forms the backbone of the remainder of the film.
In Cold Blood was first serialized in the New Yorker in the autumn of 1965 and published in book form in 1966, after more than five years in gestation, which included exhaustive research (Lee and Capote took thousands of pages worth of notes), through the writing and the executions of Hickock and Smith in April 1965. In Cold Blood was subsequently turned into a film by Richard Brooks in 1967 with Robert Blake as the charismatic Smith. As for Truman Capote, he left several unfinished works before his death in 1984 from alcohol-related complicatons.
Capote suffers from several flaws. First, the slow, deliberate pacing (aided by static camerawork, long takes, at least by contemporary standards, and pause-heavy performance styles) belies the relatively short 98-minute running time. The pacing also interferes with any involvement viewers might have with Capote or, to a lesser extent, Smith. Second, Capote and Smith's backstories are oddly incomplete (Smith was a Korean War veteran and decorated soldier, and his limp was due to a motorcycle accident). More importantly, Miller and Futterman give audiences little background information on Capote, who he was, and what his literary accomplishments were before he decided to pursue the Clutter murders story. Some of that information was obviously withheld for use in the dialogue scenes between Smith and Capote, but it makes for a curiously hermetic, context-free experience early on.
Flaws aside, Capote benefits from the intriguing subject matter and carefully calibrated performances. Philip Seymour Hoffman convincingly adopts Capotes mannerisms and speaking style, a difficult role because it comes close to caricature and self-conscious parody (luckily, Hoffman never crosses that line). As the sympathetic killer Perry Smith, Clifford Collins, Jr. also deserves mention. Collins not only has to hold his own against Hoffman's larger-than-life Capote in their scenes together, but he also has to carry several heavy emotional scenes, including the penultimate scene where Capote essentially gets what he wanted all along, a confession. Director Bennett Miller also deserves credit for finding a visual equivalent of Capote's prose, especially in the early scenes that cover fall and winter (Miller uses the widescreen frame to create lonely, abstract landscapes that, in turn, mirror the Kansas community's desolate mood in response to the murders).
Ultimately, Capote's difficult, grim subject matter (and downbeat ending) will attract audiences already predisposed to more challenging arthouse fare. Capote is as far from escapist entertainment as anything released this year (in fact, audiences might want to follow Capote with something lighter to brighten their moods). Given the top-notch, memorable performances, however, Capote is also likely to be remembered early next spring at awards time.
© Mel Valentin, 16th October, 2005
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