This is the movie in which Philip Seymour Hoffman won this year’s Academy Award (for Best Actor) in the role of Truman García Capote. Hoffman’s portray of this intriguing character is simply mesmerizing. The way he moved his body, punctuated his speech, bit his lip, walked into a room, held his cigarette was perfect.
The story is based on true events on the life of the famous American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised as literary classics.
In this film, it focuses on how Capote developed his novel ‘In Cold Blood’ after reading a newspaper report on a shocking murder in a smalltown in Kansas during November 1959. Capote sets out to investigate this with his childhood friend Haper Lee (played with grace by Catherine Keener), winning over the locals despite his flamboyant appearance and style.
Over time, he forms a close bond with the killers (Perry Smith and Richard Hickock) and as their excecution date nears, the writing of ‘In Cold Blood’, a book that will change the course of American literature, takes a drastic toll on Truman, changing him in ways he never imagined.
Capote’s personal journey when researching his book and the relationship and identification with killer Perry Smith (played by Clifton Collins Jr.) created a compelling and fascinating insight into the way a journalist work.
He is tore between writing the true horror of the murder but facing the ultimate journalist’s dilemma: if he perpetrates a lie for the sake of exposing the truth, is he ever worthy of redemption? Truman, in the end, concluded that he wasn’t; he never wrote another book after this. He descended into drunkenness and died a lonely soul…
Capote is a beautifully told, masterfully performed, harrowing, amusing, cruel, riveting movie. A sensational achievement from director Bennett Miller and actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. He richly deserved the Oscar win for this amazing performance.