Capote (2005)

Calculated ambition and betrayal: characteristics rarely used to describe the way writers work. Nevertheless, in a complex relationship between a brilliant and eccentric writer, Truman Capote, and a condemned prisoner on death row, these are exactly the elements we see.

November 15th, 1959. Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) reads a short newspaper article in The New York Times about the brutal murder of a rural Kansas family, the Clutters. He decides to write an article describing the effect of such a tragedy on the inhabitants of the town. But instead of an article, he starts to write a book, a non-fiction book that could change the way people write. And as becomes increasingly clear, Capote himself will never be the same. This is the beginning of an almost documentary film of this crucial period in Capote's life.

Capote concentrates on a small core of characters and their interaction. It would have been easy to turn the film into a polemic, but Bennett's movie resists the urge to caricaturize Capote’s contradictions, talent or mannerisms. The inner fight of the author between the needs of his real-life characters and the desire to satiate his own ego and service his art takes center stage.

Excellent choice for this month! You can catch this art flick at the Cinema Arts Theater, Shirlington Cinema and Dupont 5.