"Sometimes when I think how good my book can be, I can hardly breathe."-Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing Truman Capote
Finally (finally!) watched "Capote," a fascinating and extremely well constructed telling of the years in which Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood. What sits at the core of this picture is Capote’s willingness to sell his soul for a story (the legal trial of two men charged with the murder of an entire family in rural Kansas). In order for his "non-fiction novel" to have a great ending, Capote chooses to manipulate the legal system for his own needs, not considering how this might affect the people involved (not only the two suspects, but himself as well). When he finally realizes what he's done, he experiences a moral crisis which eventually leads to his undoing (Capote never finishes another book).
Hoffman's performance is a fully fleshed-out portrait that brings out the creepiest recesses of the writer's psyche. I still think Heath Ledger's superbly finessed turn as Ennis del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain" deserved the Oscar last February, but I can't fault the Academy for choosing Hoffman.
