It’s magic!
Alchemy of the most creative and fortuitous sort – Toby Jones, the British theatre actor, as Truman Capote. The voice, the mannerisms and the carriage are as strong a depiction of the late great author, as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s in ‘Capote,’ but Jones’s face and build are Capote’s.
The audience erupted into gasps when Jones appeared on screen during the film’s presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. The resemblance is unsettling to say the least and readies us to take an unsettling journey.
Jones has achieved something special. He has taken an accident of birth and combined it with talent, training and technique to create a Capote clone. Hoffman was terrific, but Jones seems more naturally there, even though it was likely a lot of work for him.
But this isn’t a movie based on a look-alike. Doug McGrath has created a masterpiece.
He pays tribute to the man, his times and his influential circles, from Manhattan’s elite to Kansas’ small town folk of the 50’s and 60’s. McGrath has recreated the era, respectfully and with great relish, to set the stage for the phenomenon that was Capote’s book “In Cold Blood.”
The research and writing of the book is the basis for the film, as is Capote’s drive to get what he needs by any means possible.
We see how easily Capote won over just about everyone, by noticing what drives them, and offering it up to them on silver platters.
We see Capote wasn’t above dropping a few celebrity friends’ names when necessary.
Someone as freakish and brilliant as he - has to invent efficient foolproof ways to connect with regular people. And those regular folks in Kansas adored him.
McGrath has taken the sexual relationship between Capote and convicted killer Perry Smith up a notch. Miller’s film left us guessing about the physical consummation of their attraction, McGrath tells it, as he believes it was - a reality.
It makes sense, given the unfolding of the story, where Miller’s version was incomplete.
Daniel Craig is Smith, the unremorseful killer who enters into a mental and emotional relationship with Capote, who, in turn, is researching his book on the murders Smith committed. Craig plays Smith as vulnerable, powerful, incendiary and needy, a domineering male who is now dominated by a five-foot writer with a voice ‘like a Brussels-sprout’.
So did Capote manipulate a desperate man headed for the gallows into giving him the story of a lifetime? Or was he in love? Is Capote a monster who told someone he wanted Smith executed soon so he could finish the book?
Sandra Bullock has never been to the territory she ably enters as Harper Lee – a quiet intellectual able to deal with and enjoy Capote and all his flaws and demands. Her portrayal is understated yet powerful and could get her some heavy traffic come awards season.
Bullock plays her as loving Capote as only lifelong friends can love each other, she knows that his shortcomings and demands are always about something else from long ago. They have few secrets and a rare freedom with each other.
The films’ playful figures are Capote’s famous Swans, the long-necked New York society women who flock to him and feed on his wit. Isabella Rossellini, Sigourney Weaver, Hope Davis and Juliette Stevenson twist the night away, gossip, confess and share best friends status with the Tiny Terror (Capote’s nickname).
Unlike the earlier film, McGrath details Capote’s unconscionable betrayal of the Swans by publishing the deep secrets they told him in his unfinished book ‘Answered Prayers’. Miller left that out, but McGrath included it because it shaped Capote’s life as much as his relationship with the killer.
‘Infamous’ is funnier than its predecessor, and at times lighthearted. Those moments come in Manhattan and Kansas, as Capote relaxes into the adoration of dinner party guests and pays them back with delicious stories.
The film moves from gold and light, bright colors to muted color to no color at all as the film progresses and the day of execution draws near. McGrath knows how to create an environment that drives a story and changes it along with the emotional tone and journey.
The film opens with a killer sequence with Gwyneth Paltrow onstage as Peggy Lee. She sings a bitter torch song to tragic love and is overwhelmed by emotion. Just as the audience thinks she has broken down, she stops, turns and smiles and we know it was all an act – a little like Capote.
What a great film.
Limited NY & LA opening October 13. MPAA: Rated R for language, violence and some sexuality.
Copyright 2006 by Monsters and Critics
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