kaput?
This is the latest in a long line of biopics to come out of Hollywood, but the difference between this film and the ones before it (Ray, The Aviator, Walk the Line) is that it is both instantly compelling and interminably haunting. Philip Seymour Hoffman captures the character of his subject like no actor has managed before in a biopic; he doesn’t just walk and talk like Capote, he becomes him.
He’s enticing, calculating, duplicitous, but somehow always remains elusive; a psychiatrist’s field day. The film tells the story of Capote’s attempt to write the first nonfiction novel, about his befriending of two murderers. He becomes emotionally attached to one of them, but knows that he can’t finish the book until they are hanged for their crimes: “All I want to do is write the ending and there’s no end in sight”.
The musical score is reminiscent of Thomas Newman’s Road to Perdition, and it’s just as harrowing a film. Go see it; you won’t feel satisfied, but challenged.
2nd Mar 2006