Capote

Starring

Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Chris Cooper, Clifton Collins Jr.

Rated R

            If Phillip Seymour Hoffman was the only good thing in “Capote,” then this film would still rank high on my 2005 Top Ten List. But everything about “Capote” – every performance, every scene – feels exactly right. The film is a masterpiece, and a notable entry in the growing field of films about conflicted geniuses (“The Aviator,” “Walk the Line.”)

            Truman Capote (Hoffman, nearly definite Best Actor winner), the famous homosexual American author of “Breakfast at Tiffanys” and many other literary works, is intrigued by an article he reads about a family of four murdered in a small Kansas town. He travels to Kansas with his author friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), and what begins as a short magazine article for the New Yorker turns into a rapidly evolving novel by Capote titled In Cold Blood. Complicating matters is Capote’s relationship with Perry Smith (Clifton Collins, Jr.), one of the two killers. Capote finds himself beginning to love and admire this tortured soul, but the killer must die in order for Capote’s novel to have a satisfactory end.

            “Capote” is a small film that was acclaimed enough to earn a Best Picture nomination, and there couldn’t have been a better choice. Many people complain that they have barely seen any of this year’s Oscar nominees, but maybe that is because they avoid thought-provoking and insightful films like “Capote” and “Munich.” The Academy Awards nominate the best films, not the run-of-the-mill box office winners (cough, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” cough.) With “Capote,” they have indeed nominated one of the finest films in years.

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