Hoffman is Capote, and he dominates this film just as Capote would have, if the flamboyant writer were in it.
Life turns complicated for Capote when he turns his attentions to the two alleged killers who are brought into custody—Perry Smith (Clifton Collins, Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). The rest of the film explores the author's drive to get his story, but also the problems that present themselves by his drawing too close to the killers, which alienates him from the townspeople. It's a book that would both make Capote, and break him, and this film spans a roughly five-year period covered by biographer Gerald Clarke—from the time on November 15, 1959 when Capote read about the murders to the time when justice was meted out on April 14, 1965. Hoffman, Futterman, and Miller manage to capture the nuances of character that allow Capote to first charm, then outright lie to people in order to manipulate events for his own benefit.
Hoffman isn't the only good actor in this film. Cooper is wonderful as the sheriff, and Collins, Jr. and Pellegrino are also believable as the killers who manage to become sympathetic along the way. In fact, this film manages the same balanced emotional treatment that Capote gave his subjects in his non-fiction novel. While the pacing is deliberately slow and this film is largely about character, not action, Adam Kimmel's cinematography strings us along as subtly and seductively as Capote works his interview subjects. There's some beautiful camerawork here, and it helps us accept that the film is as much about Capote's inner landscape as it is his research. The party scenes, which we learn were totally improvised, absolutely capture the novelist at his revelatory best.
Video: "Capote" is mastered in High Definition and presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. There's a little grain—after all, this wasn't a big-money film, and it was shot in just 36 days—but it's really a pretty sharp picture, especially considering the muted palette that the director chose and the frequent challenges posed by shadows and low-atmospheric lighting situations.
Audio: The audio is English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French 2.0 Stereo, with subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Bahasa (a Malaysian-Indonesian language). As with the video, the audio is quite good—though our attention, really, is on Capote the entire picture, and the only sounds are really dialogue.
Extras: The bonus features include two very low-key commentaries which have an okay amount of insights but just as many gaps and ordinary observations. The first option pairs director Miller with Hoffman, while the second teams the director with the cinematographer. Both commentaries are average at best. Curiously absent is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter, who really would have had the most to say about transforming a section of biography into a film.
Other than the commentaries, there are just three short featurettes—one on Capote that really doesn't delve too deeply (e.g., we don't even get his given name, Truman Streckfus Persons) but will give people who were clueless about Capote how important a writer he became. For a DVD extra, it's also surprising that there's no mention of Capote's one movie appearance. The writer played comic villain Lionel Twain in Neil Simon's parody of mysteries, "Murder by Death."
The other short features are parts one and two of "Making Capote," which combine a few talking heads interviews with film clips. Here too, there's just enough for us to appreciate what the filmmakers accomplished with "very little money and very little time," and nothing very in-depth. Despite the double commentaries, I sense a special two-disc set on the horizon.
Bottom Line: "Capote" is a stylish and engrossing film that was certainly worthy of the Oscar it earned for Hoffman, as well as the nominations that came for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress. But Hoffman is Capote, and he dominates this film just as Capote would have, if the flamboyant writer were in it.
Hoffman isn't the only good actor in this film. Cooper is wonderful as the sheriff, and Collins, Jr. and Pellegrino are also believable as the killers who manage to become sympathetic along the way. In fact, this film manages the same balanced emotional treatment that Capote gave his subjects in his non-fiction novel. While the pacing is deliberately slow and this film is largely about character, not action, Adam Kimmel's cinematography strings us along as subtly and seductively as Capote works his interview subjects. There's some beautiful camerawork here, and it helps us accept that the film is as much about Capote's inner landscape as it is his research. The party scenes, which we learn were totally improvised, absolutely capture the novelist at his revelatory best.
Video: "Capote" is mastered in High Definition and presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. There's a little grain—after all, this wasn't a big-money film, and it was shot in just 36 days—but it's really a pretty sharp picture, especially considering the muted palette that the director chose and the frequent challenges posed by shadows and low-atmospheric lighting situations.
Audio: The audio is English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French 2.0 Stereo, with subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Bahasa (a Malaysian-Indonesian language). As with the video, the audio is quite good—though our attention, really, is on Capote the entire picture, and the only sounds are really dialogue.
Extras: The bonus features include two very low-key commentaries which have an okay amount of insights but just as many gaps and ordinary observations. The first option pairs director Miller with Hoffman, while the second teams the director with the cinematographer. Both commentaries are average at best. Curiously absent is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter, who really would have had the most to say about transforming a section of biography into a film.
Other than the commentaries, there are just three short featurettes—one on Capote that really doesn't delve too deeply (e.g., we don't even get his given name, Truman Streckfus Persons) but will give people who were clueless about Capote how important a writer he became. For a DVD extra, it's also surprising that there's no mention of Capote's one movie appearance. The writer played comic villain Lionel Twain in Neil Simon's parody of mysteries, "Murder by Death."
The other short features are parts one and two of "Making Capote," which combine a few talking heads interviews with film clips. Here too, there's just enough for us to appreciate what the filmmakers accomplished with "very little money and very little time," and nothing very in-depth. Despite the double commentaries, I sense a special two-disc set on the horizon.
Bottom Line: "Capote" is a stylish and engrossing film that was certainly worthy of the Oscar it earned for Hoffman, as well as the nominations that came for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress. But Hoffman is Capote, and he dominates this film just as Capote would have, if the flamboyant writer were in it.
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