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| OCTOBER 27, 2005 | Send features
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Movie Review
The Writing Life
Capote looks closely at writing,
life and relationships
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By Megan
Wright
The Shorthorn staff
Capote is a time machine.
The movie whisks viewers away to the late 1950s and 1960s Kansas.
It jumps back and forth between the solitary Midwest and the New
York City party scene.
The film oozes the time period. The clothes, makeup, conversation
style and setting in every scene fit so well, Capote seems to be
more from that time than ours.
The movie follows Truman Capote, world famous writer of Breakfast
at Tiffany’s, as he researches his only nonfiction book, In
Cold Blood.
Most importantly, the cast portrays each of their based-on-real-life
characters phenomenally.
The best portrayal comes from Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title
role. Hoffman amazes viewers who know him from previous movies like
Magnolia and Almost Famous.
He engulfs himself in the character, every mannerism screaming of
the famous writer. Even his voice changes from his natural baritone
to a high-pitched and slightly slurred one of the alcoholic Capote.
Hoffman works well with the supporting cast on screen, forming poignant
relationships with the other characters.
Catherine Keener plays Capote’s long-time friend Harper Lee,
author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Her demure and comforting role
balances Hoffman’s narcissism and helps the audience to love
Capote, despite his flaws.
Capote forms a controversial relationship with the focus of his
book, convicted killer Perry Smith, played by Clifton Collins Jr.
Collins brings an unexpected earnestness to the death-row inmate,
making the audience feel for his character.
The movie has some violent images from the murders of a Kansas family,
but it concerns itself more with examining each character’s
nature than flashing blood shots whenever possible.
While this may make the movie too slow for some viewers, Capote
wows the rest with its heart-rending look at a pivotal moment in
the writer’s life.
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CAPOTE
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Catherine Keener and Clifton Collins Jr.
Director: Bennett Miller
Rating: R
Ranking: 5 stars on a 1-5 scale
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