Bennett Miller's "Capote" (2005) gave us what I thought was a fascinating look into the artistic process, and asked tough questions about the relationship between and the responsibility toward an artist and his subject. The film was neither a recreation of the tragic events that served as the subject of "In Cold Blood," nor was it a strict bio-pic about Truman Capote himself. It was something unique, and in my opinion said all there was to say about Capote's journey in writing "In Cold Blood." Then "Infamous" came along, in one of the most unfortunate cases of bad timing ever to afflict a movie, and had to justify its own existence. Does it have anything to offer that "Capote" or, for that matter the movie "In Cold Blood" or the novel "In Cold Blood," don't? The answer is.....not really. "Infamous" isn't a bad film, but it feels awfully unnecessary, and this isn't simply because "Capote" came out first. It's a much more straightforward, and therefore less interesting, version of the same story.
It shouldn't be less interesting, given its cast. Toby Jones actually looks and acts more like Truman Capote than Philip Seymour Hoffman did, but his performance is more of an impersonation than it is a creation of a living breathing character. Sandra Bullock plays Harper Lee, and the movie strands her with nothing to do. The down to earth Lee is supposedly responsible for getting the people of Holcomb, Kansas to open up to the otherwise too strange and effeminate invader from the big city; but the movie doesn't show this. Lee instead sits around and waits for Capote to come back and update her on interviews he has with his subjects. Jeff Daniels plays the chief inspector in the Cutter family killings. The movie's best scenes are the ones showing how Capote used his familiarity with Hollywood and household name stars to delight the Kansas townspeople, and namely the inspector's family, into confiding in him. Daniel Craig plays Perry Smith, one of the two Cutter family killers, and the movie's biggest factual divergence from other versions of the story is its explicitness in suggesting that Smith and Capote actually fell in love with one another. The film's biggest asset, and most missed opportunity, is the cast assembled to play Capote's high-society friends. Peter Bogdanovich plays Capote's "New Yorker" editor, and a female ensemble that includes Sigourney Weaver, Hope Davis, Isabella Rosselini and Juliet Stevenson plays his various gossip-monger friends. This aspect of the Capote story -- how his "project" was viewed by New York's upper crust, far removed from the world that includes out of the way places like Holcomb, Kansas -- could have made this version unique, but the writers decide instead to focus the entire second half of the film on the Smith/Capote relationship, leaving the New York world in the background. A shame, because it's the New York scenes that inject "Infamous" with the energy its other scenes lack.
If "Infamous" isn't a failure, it's also not a resounding success, and not a movie that I would encourage anyone to rush out and see.
Grade: B-
It shouldn't be less interesting, given its cast. Toby Jones actually looks and acts more like Truman Capote than Philip Seymour Hoffman did, but his performance is more of an impersonation than it is a creation of a living breathing character. Sandra Bullock plays Harper Lee, and the movie strands her with nothing to do. The down to earth Lee is supposedly responsible for getting the people of Holcomb, Kansas to open up to the otherwise too strange and effeminate invader from the big city; but the movie doesn't show this. Lee instead sits around and waits for Capote to come back and update her on interviews he has with his subjects. Jeff Daniels plays the chief inspector in the Cutter family killings. The movie's best scenes are the ones showing how Capote used his familiarity with Hollywood and household name stars to delight the Kansas townspeople, and namely the inspector's family, into confiding in him. Daniel Craig plays Perry Smith, one of the two Cutter family killers, and the movie's biggest factual divergence from other versions of the story is its explicitness in suggesting that Smith and Capote actually fell in love with one another. The film's biggest asset, and most missed opportunity, is the cast assembled to play Capote's high-society friends. Peter Bogdanovich plays Capote's "New Yorker" editor, and a female ensemble that includes Sigourney Weaver, Hope Davis, Isabella Rosselini and Juliet Stevenson plays his various gossip-monger friends. This aspect of the Capote story -- how his "project" was viewed by New York's upper crust, far removed from the world that includes out of the way places like Holcomb, Kansas -- could have made this version unique, but the writers decide instead to focus the entire second half of the film on the Smith/Capote relationship, leaving the New York world in the background. A shame, because it's the New York scenes that inject "Infamous" with the energy its other scenes lack.
If "Infamous" isn't a failure, it's also not a resounding success, and not a movie that I would encourage anyone to rush out and see.
Grade: B-