Capote (2005)

"unh...yeees. I am... how you say... the shiiiit."

Genre: Crime Drama

Starring: Philip Seymore Hoffman (Boogie Nights; Happiness), Catherine Keener (40 Year Old Virgin; The Interpreter)

Directed By: Bennett Miller

Overview: This is the story of Truman Capote's in-depth research into the lives of the murderers of that small Kansas town he wrote about in his hit non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood.

Performance:

I was all about Philip Seymore Hoffman way back during Happiness. Since then such roles as those in Magnolia, Owning Mahoney and especially Love Liza help take away the surprise that this is Hollywood's hot, new actor on the scene. We all know he's getting a star one day. The rest do great too. It's a nice surprise getting a little know actor to play Perry Smith. Too many big names can spoil the stew.
Rating: 9

Cinematography:

The look, though professional and pretty with a nice little panoramic here and there was really uninspired. I mean the warehouse was fine, but when they were doing those shots in the Ritzy high society settings, why did they have to shoot cramped smoke filled artless walls? If I missed the symbolism, fine I get it, but don't do it at the cost of the eye.
Rating: 7

Script:

This, I knew would have a couple Oscar worthy moments. I really found this lacking too. Yes, there's some real amazing moments but not more than two or three. It's like Philip carried the whole movie. That's sad. For this category, good not great.
Rating: 7

Plot:

The story was thin my friends. You know what? Truman Capote was not that interesting a guy. There I said it. I like the end, I like the climactic character arc where Capote just flat out says, "I'm here for one reason only. Tell me about that night." the last conversation as well was quite intriguing, but the whole way through I found the movie boring... and too long.
Rating: 6

Mood:

The era was well captured, but they did nothing to fill us with anything but Capote, Capote, Capote, and they didn't even really get too into his personal life, like they should have. There's more to a man's story than HIM. This just goes to show you that one category alone will not carry any film. Yeah right, watch this get an Oscar in spite of what I just said.
Rating: 7

"Wait, wait... let me indulge the fantasy... hooooot murderer sex...."

Overall Rating: 72% (Kaputey?)

Aftertaste:

I knew it. The night before I saw this I said to others, "Now you can't set your expectations too high, it's not going to be terrific." I knew the acting would be Oscar worthy and the story would be rather common. I figured the writing would be good and the look would be passable as era without too much flash. I must say though, disappointing even with lowered expectations. Lowest Common Denominator wins again. Not daring enough for me, not nearly as telling as I had hoped. "Fine" is not what I want to see when I see movies. I've seen enough of those, let me tell you.