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Snowflake · 10-22-2005, 06:06 PM

Well, I don't know where to start with this film.

It's tremendous, it's grim, it's fascinating, it's really well made. The period is captured perfectly, the scripting is taut, judicious, understated. The scoring, like the script, is understated. The acting, tremendous, so much so, I felt more like I was watching things as they happened, everyone was subtle.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is not playing Capote, it's like he is channeling Truman Capote. Not once does he overplay or does he descend into caricature. It's a masterful performance, every gesture, every word seems 100% true to Truman. Good, bad or horrible.

Clifton Collins is positively scary as the condemned murderer, Perry Smith. Understated (and I fear I am overusing this word) outwardly and underneath, behind his eyes, you see the man who did the murders. Very effective.

Chris Cooper has a nice turn as the family friend of Herb Clutter, who is also the chief investigator of the crime. He always adds a plus to any film I've seen him in. In this film he is no different.

The film sucked me in from the first frames of wheat blowing in the wind and held me in rapt attention through the final fadeout.

This is not a light evenings entertainment, it's a thoughtful, gripping tale, a film much like Capote's book In Cold Blood was and is, a true crime novel, except this is the making of the true crime novel in the form of a film. As Woodrow Wilson is purported to have said after seeing D.W. Griffith's 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation, it's like watching history written with lightening. So is this, a quiet storm of images, music and words, all blended seamlessly into a terrific film.

I liked it!

Donna

10-22-2005, 06:06 PM	#5
Snowflake lost in the fog Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 7,831	Capote - a tour de force Well, I don't know where to start with this film. It's tremendous, it's grim, it's fascinating, it's really well made. The period is captured perfectly, the scripting is taut, judicious, understated. The scoring, like the script, is understated. The acting, tremendous, so much so, I felt more like I was watching things as they happened, everyone was subtle. Philip Seymour Hoffman is not playing Capote, it's like he is channeling Truman Capote. Not once does he overplay or does he descend into caricature. It's a masterful performance, every gesture, every word seems 100% true to Truman. Good, bad or horrible. Clifton Collins is positively scary as the condemned murderer, Perry Smith. Understated (and I fear I am overusing this word) outwardly and underneath, behind his eyes, you see the man who did the murders. Very effective. Chris Cooper has a nice turn as the family friend of Herb Clutter, who is also the chief investigator of the crime. He always adds a plus to any film I've seen him in. In this film he is no different. The film sucked me in from the first frames of wheat blowing in the wind and held me in rapt attention through the final fadeout. This is not a light evenings entertainment, it's a thoughtful, gripping tale, a film much like Capote's book In Cold Blood was and is, a true crime novel, except this is the making of the true crime novel in the form of a film. As Woodrow Wilson is purported to have said after seeing D.W. Griffith's 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation, it's like watching history written with lightening. So is this, a quiet storm of images, music and words, all blended seamlessly into a terrific film. I liked it! Donna Last edited by Snowflake : 10-22-2005 at 06:13 PM.
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