This is easily one of 2005's best films and will definitely
garner a Best Actor
nomination for its lead, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays
Truman Capote.
The story covers the time in which Capote wrote his famous
and influential
book, In Cold Blood, about the uncommonly callous murder of
a family of
four in Kansas by two men, Perry Smith and Richard
Hickock. This film eerily
depicts the close relationship that developed between
Capote and Smith
during the time leading up to Smith's execution (not a
spoiler since it is a
historical fact). Catherine Keener is marvelous as Capotes
friend and
assistant, Harper Lee (yes, that Harper Lee, author of To
Kill a Mockingbird).
Hoffman becomes Capote so completely that it reminds one of
how spot-on
good Val Kilmer was in The Doors, Jamie Foxx was in Ray,
Ben Kinglsy in
Gandhi, or Denzel Washington was in Malcolm X, to name a
few.