Back in theaters: Encore: 'Capote' a golden performance

Back in theaters: Encore: 'Capote' a golden performance
By STEVE PERSALL
Published January 19, 2006

NOTE: The Times first reviewed this film on Oct. 27. It is back in theaters this weekend thanks to Philip Seymour Hoffman's win at the Golden Globe Awards on Monday.
Capote (R) (110 min.) - Truman Capote was a dandy, a spotlight hog and, with his landmark "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood, the originator of America's pop-culture infatuation with infamy.

Capote's 1965 book told of two sociopathic drifters murdering a wholesome Kansas family to steal less than $50. The book and Richard Brooks' superb 1967 film adaptation focused on the killers, almost making them sympathetic victims of a society into which they didn't fit.
Now it's the journalist's turn to be analyzed, his motives and practices scrutinized, in Bennett Miller's equally accomplished film, Capote, anchored by Philip Seymour Hoffman in what could be the best male performance of 2005.
What Hoffman does as Capote is astonishing, digging deeper than the familiar mannerisms and mincing voice to reveal a conniving and conveniently compassionate person within.
The movie recalls the starkness of Brooks' film in its first minutes, when a young girl discovers the grisly crime scene. Then Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman shift to Manhattan, where Capote holds court at a cocktail party, riding high with Breakfast at Tiffany's on bestseller lists. But it's a small article tucked inside the New York Times that becomes his unlikely obsession, reporting the Clutter family murders in otherwise unremarkable Holcomb, Kan.
He travels to Holcomb with his confidante and researcher, Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), whose own novel To Kill a Mockingbird hasn't yet been published. Celebrity opens a few doors, including the home of Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), who comes to appreciate Capote's intuition about the killers. When Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) are captured in Las Vegas and returned to stand trial, the author's focus - and that of the film - shifts. Capote sees something in Smith that's imperceptible to everyone else, a shared past of negligent parenting, and the elements of a great book.
Capote gets too close for journalistic comfort, finding the defendants better attorneys and feeding baby food to Smith to coax him off his hunger strike. Then he'll withdraw or lie just as easily to preserve his project and relationship with author Jack Dunphy (Bruce Greenwood), who recognizes his lover's distraction.
There lies the power of Miller's film, a quiet conflict of personal and professional desires. Capote can't finish his book unless Smith and Hickock are executed. But they won't cooperate with him unless he gives the appearance of helping their case.
The first time watching Capote, it's easy to be mesmerized by Hoffman's uncanny channeling of the late author. A second viewing makes the supporting performances - Collins and Keener deserve Oscar nominations - and Miller and Futterman's steady grasp of this complex story more noticeable. They have complete confidence in the material, and in the audience's willingness to follow along. We owe them that much for delivering such an intelligent, gripping work of art.
- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic
[Last modified January 18, 2006, 11:22:07]
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