Z/Web

I knew nothing about Truman Capote before going to see this film. I’d heard the name and knew he was a writer, but that was about it. I vaguely remember the title In Cold Blood, which was a non-fiction book about some murders, but not much beyond that. Well, I learned a great deal. I had no idea he was such an influential writer (or that he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s). I definitely must get a few of his books. This film is not about Capote’s life, as I expected, but entirely about his writing of In Cold Blood, which was his final work (other things of his were later published, but he never finished anything after Blood). I also learned that Bloodreally did invent a new form of writing: what Truman called the “non-fiction novel.” That’s how he wrote the story of the murders of an entire family in Kansas, and about the killers who were caught and executed for the crime. It’s an amazing four years of research and writing, countless interviews with the criminals on death row, and he even watches one of them hanged. The film’s incredibly well-done with a fantastic performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favorite actors, but I did find some aspects confusing, simply because I knew nothing about Capote. The film assumes we know things about him and I didn’t. I would have preferred a little more biographical info, details about his other works, etc. I guess I’ll have to watch a real biography to get that. Other than that, though, this is a terrific film, engrossing, deep, and thought-provoking.