Am I The Only One Who Didn't Get It? (Capote (DVD))

Member Name: Brown_eyes1984

Product:	Capote (DVD)
Date:	24/07/06 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: phillip seymour hoffmans performance

Disadvantages: pathetic directing,unmemorable story,incredibly slow

Directed by Bennett Miller, Capote is one of the most talked about films of 2005. Now, after scooping Phillip Seymour Hoffman an Oscar, Being compared to ‘Dead Man Walking’, and after all the suspenseful waiting, the film is now available to buy on DVD. But will it live up to its expectations?

*** The Plot ***

Set in 1959, the film tells the story of Truman Capote, a well known writer with the ‘New York Times’. Always looking for an intriguing story, he is drawn to the news of a horrific murder in Holcomb Kansas, which completely wiped out a family of four.

Capote and his partner ‘Harper Lee’ travel to the place of the murder in order to research the story for his next article, but Capote is drawn into the story so much that he aims to write a book about it, rather than just an article. Meeting up with the killers, Capote forms a friendship with one of them – ‘Perry’ - which many people could never understand.

However, his friendship with ‘Perry’ starts to conflict with his proposed book ‘In Cold Blood’, and as the killers execution comes closer, Capote struggles to cope with his conflicting feelings.

*** What I Thought ***

Now, I had heard so many good things about this film before I actually saw it. I had seen previews and had loved them, and I really couldn’t wait for the DVD to be released. However, I have to admit, after watching this I was extremely disappointed.

* The Cast and Their Characters *

Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays the lead role of Capote, and it has to be said that his performance has to be the only good thing about this movie. He really did walk, talk and act like Capote. I couldn’t get over his accent, and although I haven’t really seen him in much, I’m pretty sure his accent isn’t usually like that. The character was put across to me as quite arrogant and self obsessed. Now I have to admit to knowing absolutely nothing about the real Capote Truman, so I cannot compare his performance to how the real capote would have been, but for me I feel he gave me a good clear picture of how he could have been. Phillip is also known for his roles in films such as ‘Along Came Polly’, ‘Red Dragon’, and most recently ‘Mission Impossible III’. No doubt winning an Oscar has boosted his already successful career, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing a lot of this talented actor in the future.

Other good cast performances were given by Catherine Keener, who played Capotes partner ‘Harper Lee’. Harper was also a writer, and was writing quite a famous book which was in the process of being published. She gave a good, solid performance, though I don’t feel the film really stretched her acting abilities. You may have also seen Catherine in films such as ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’, ‘The Interpreter’ and most recently ‘Friends with Money’. She can be a really good actress and she is somebody I will be looking out for in the future.

Clifton Collins Jr played ‘Perry Smith’, the murderer that Capote befriends. He isn’t shown a lot throughout the film, but in the scenes that he did star in, he played the part quite well. Not looking like a typical killer, Perry doesn’t talk about what happens which really frustrates Capote. He is the silent type and I never really knew whether he was innocent or not but I always assumed that he was. Clifton may also be known for his roles in films such as ‘Traffic’, ‘The Rules of Attraction’ and ‘Life of the Party’. Most things that he has been in have been TV shows.

Other cast members weren’t really shown that much and they haven’t been in many other films so I didn’t really recognise any of them. As cast goes this film was pretty poor and although in some films such as ‘The Da Vinci Code’, high profiled actors/actresses may have taken the focus off the actual story, in this case I feel that wouldn’t have been the case.

* The Story *

The main reason why I saw the film was because I had read somewhere that it was supposed to be better than ‘Dead Man Walking’. Now for anybody who hasn’t seen that film, I would highly recommend it. Starring ‘Susan Sarandon’ as a nun who befriends a man on death row, it really was an emotional yet compelling film. I felt that the story was a lot more powerful in that film, than it was in Capote.

I expected the murder in this film to be shown with a bit more sensitivity. Now I definitely cannot stand gory movies so I am not talking about blood and guts everywhere, or actually seeing the killings more, but I am talking about making the viewer feel more compassion about such a serious crime. I felt the whole thing was just skimmed over. There was a murder, oh dear, what a great book that would make. That’s how it came across to me and I really didn’t like it.

Now as I understand it, the book ‘In Cold Blood’, was actually brought out as a film, so maybe that would have been more appealing to me than this film was. I don’t know, but I really couldn’t have been more disappointed with this.

The relationship between Perry and Capote was a little strange, but then how else could a relationship between man and murderer be described? I thought the flashbacks near the end were quite good in the fact that they explained the killings a lot more, but I still felt that maybe these should have been put towards the beginning rather than at the end. I understand that by showing them at the end, it was aimed to make the film suspenseful throughout, and not finding out what happened while at the end should have been a sure way to keep viewers watching, but I honestly think that it would have been better at the beginning and it would have explained the killings more.

At the ending, where the killers are being executed, it really made my stomach feel funny. There were one or two scenes throughout the film where I had to look away, but they weren’t anything too bad – they definitely could have been worse.

One thing I was confused about throughout the whole film was ‘Why wasn’t the other murderer shown more?’ I never gathered why Perry was so interesting to Capote yet the other murderer wasn’t. Why did he choose Perry? It didn’t really explain and it did bug me a little bit throughout, I have to admit.

All in all, the story definitely wasn’t as good as it could have been and I found it really disappointing after waiting all that time for it to be released. I wish I had waited for it to just come on TV now.

* How the film was directed *

My final complaint has to be how this was directed. One of the main reasons this film disappointed me was because it seemed to go so slow. I prefer action films where there is always something going on, however, this was nothing like that. It didn’t flow very well; there were gaps where nothing important was happening, it just felt like the director was passing time.

The lighting wasn’t great and even though it was set in history, I still felt they could have upgraded the lighting a little bit. It didn’t particularly feel like I was watching something that was set so far back in time though. The film had a weird vibe to it and I just didn’t enjoy it.

*** My Overall Opinion ***

In case you haven’t already noticed I do not recommend this film! It was such a let down, the director was rubbish (and unsurprisingly unknown), and the only good part about it was Phillip Seymour Hoffman, even if I didn’t particularly like his character.

If you do still want to make your own mind up about this film then it can be found in most high street shops, on the internet and at some supermarkets. Prices will vary though I bought my copy from Asda at £12.99. Shop around for the best prices.

The film is certified UK15 and it runs for 114 minutes.

Summary: A disappointment that I will not be watching again,far too slow in places!