movie minute

Famously Bold: Last year a "little" movie called Capote was released and many accolades went to Philip Seymour Hoffman for his portrayal of the writer. Those accolades were deserved and yet the movie was just alright. Now comes another movie about Capote with many of the same characters and yet a bit of a slant on the one Capote told. Whereas Hoffman's movie focused on Capote's struggle to write his megabook "In Cold Blood", Infamous, starring Toby Jones (Finding Neverland, voice of Dobby in Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets) as Capote, focuses on that aspect but goes for a deeper story as well. The film decides to focus on the relationship that developed between Capote and killer Perry Smith (wonderfully played here by Daniel Craig). Craig once again proves just how versatile he really is; take that new Bond haters. Craig portrays a smoldering Smith both vulnerable and stone cold. It's long been rumored that there was more to their relationship than met the eye. The film cuts between Capote and best friend Nelle Harper Lee (sadly, a miscast Sandra Bullock) as they gather info for the book and scenes of Capote at swank restaurants and parties with his upper class friends. It's a veritable who's who of actors: Peter Bogdanovich, Isabella Rossellini, Sigourney Weaver, Gwyneth Paltrow, Juliet Stevenson, Jeff Daniels, and Hope Davis. I didn't mind the actors talking to the camera while in character but it was distracting whenever Craig talked to the camera while reading letters that Smith wrote to Capote. The movie is adapted from the book of classmate and friend of Robert Kennedy, George Plimpton. This movie is much more enjoyable than last year's Capote and while I enjoyed Hoffman's performance, Jones goes for the jugular in capturing Capote. I've seen clips and interviews with the real Capote (he died in 1984) and where Hoffman's Capote was muted, Jones's is loud. Hoffman's Capote was fey but Jones's Capote is flamboyant. Jones also nails how repulsive Capote was not just in Kansas but with his high society friends as well. His stature and face are more alike to the real Capote than Hoffman could pull off. The real sad part of this is that this film and the performances might get overlooked because of last year's film; they were both being made at the same time but Capote made it to the finish line first. In Capote there were a number of scenes that were too slow or had too much exposition; there are a couple in Infamous but it's much more enjoyable a film than Capote and definitely worth seeing whether you've seen Capote or not.

Bags of Popcorn(out of 5): 3.75