Capote

I had it at the back of my mind to see this when I saw it was playing, but didn't get to read much about it beforehand, since I just went on a whim today as my cousin asked if I wanted to go. I went in not knowing at all what the focus of the movie would be, and my only knowledge of Truman Capote himself was from Breakfast at Tiffany's, so I had no idea what I would be watching.

The movie is actually about the interviews he did while writing the book In Cold Blood, the prototypical true crime novel. I haven't read it, nor did I know anything about it before today, so perhaps my experience of the film is entirely different from someone who would have, who would have the background as a given foundation on top of which to just envision Capote writing it. But without that I was left really wanting to see more of the process of actually writing.

There's a great old observation that authors only ever want to write about other authors. And in this case it's doubly true, since it's shown that Capote becomes fascinated with the subject of his book, a convicted killer, when he sees his journal and believes he sees something of himself in this person.

The film focuses on Capote's drawing out the story of the killing and the biography of the killer, relying very heavily on the contrast between the two men; Capote's fragilility next to implied savagery hidden by a mask of charm. Capote's fascination with this man is reproduced by the way the story of the actual murder is teased out through the film, so the audience wants to hear more from him while simultaneously being repelled by him.

Everyone else has remarked about the amazing acting job by Philip Seymour Hoffman, so I'll skip it, only saying that I agree. What I wished the film showed more of, though, is the process of writing down the content of the interviews and turning it into a story. Transforming something from the killer's account into the words on the page. The excerpts we hear, at a book-reading, are more airy and not directly to do with the actual events.

This is the usual problem with movies about writers, the fact that the act of writing itself is an excrutiatingly boring process of second-guessing, rephrasing and nitpicking. So the filmmakers are always left to show every part of a writer's life except for the writing, the thing that sets him or her apart as an interesting character. Without getting this window into the writer's mind, all we are left with is that this person is supposed to be interesting because the other characters around him seem to act as if he were.

The film was put together in a way that drew out the forboding story, with dull brown colour schemes and lifeless settings. The music was very stark and continued on the same tune through the movie, to reinforce the gloomy feel of the subject.

Excellent filmmaking, and a very good movie, but still frustrating that it leaves out such a huge part like Capote as a writer and not just a Columbo-like character becoming close to a criminal only to get some crucial plot twist out of him at the last minute.
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