Comment

Jun 30, 2016
Stands up very well next to the more celebrated "Capote" starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, which was released around the same time. Hoffman was a fine actor and quite good in that film, but having watched both films again recently I have to say I like Toby Jones's interpretation better. I admired Hoffman's acting, but could never escape the awareness that I was watching Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing Truman Capote. Toby Jones, a British actor less well known to U.S. audiences, was able to sink himself so thoroughly into the role it was easy at moments to forget you were not in fact watching the real Truman. (It probably helps that as well as nailing the odd, babyish voice and quirky mannerisms Jones actually bears an eerie resemblance to Capote.) There was carping in some corners about Sandra Bullock's take on Harper Lee; I don't know why, I thought she was wonderful, every bit as believable in her performance as the excellent Catherine Keener. Daniel Craig is unforgettable as the tragic killer Perry Smith, of whom the smitten Capote, trying to explain their divergent paths, once said it was like the two lived in the same house except he went out the front door and Smith went out the back. Six footer Craig is the wrong physicality for Perry Smith (Robert Blake, who starred in the 1967 film "In Cold Blood," probably looked more like him) but you believe him anyway, such is the force and pained intensity of his performance. And finally, I watched both Capote films with and without the director commentaries and found "Infamous" director Douglas McGrath's most enjoyable and helpful. As a rule I look forward to DVD commentaries but sometimes they disappoint, especially when two or more people get caught up talking to each other about technical aspects of the filmmaking. It's like they completely forget (or can't be bothered to care) that you're sitting there trying to follow what they're saying, which gets deeply annoying. I appreciated that McGrath's thoughtful and entertaining commentary never forgot who was listening.