USA Today
by Claudia Puig
October 13, 2006
Gossip is the currency and also the great leveler for those who come into contact with Truman Capote in Infamous.
This is the second movie in a year, after 2005's Capote, about the writer and the tortured process that led to his seminal novel, In Cold Blood. This film hinges on the chatty confidences that were so key to Capote's style.
British actor Toby Jones does a fine job as the flamboyant writer, nailing his whiny voice and affecting a close resemblance. Capote persuades both the prosecutor and one of the killers to give him special access by tantalizing them with gossipy tidbits. To win over the prosecutor (Jeff Daniels), he spins tales about Humphrey Bogart. His association with Marlon Brando entices convicted killer Perry Smith (Daniel Craig) to open up. Gossip is also at the heart of his close friendships with Manhattan's wealthiest society matrons.
Like the half-truths he often trades in, the first half of the movie — a fictionalized account based on true events — offers pithy insights in the style of a comedy of manners. The second hour descends into much darker territory and feels rehashed and derivative, covering much of the same ground as the mesmerizing Capote.
As written and directed by Douglas McGrath (Emma), Infamous comes at the subject from a more comedic and conversational perspective than last year's film. The writing in Infamous' first act sparkles, and the acting is superb. Parts of it are as intriguing as Capote, which won Philip Seymour Hoffman a best-actor Oscar.
Both movies were shot in 2004, within a few months of each other. And though it's not exactly Dante's Peak vs. Volcano, you can't help but wonder about the wisdom of releasing another movie covering the same period in Capote's life. Are there enough moviegoers who can't get enough of the diminutive writer or who are fascinated by In Cold Blood to warrant two movies?
Infamous posits that Capote's emotionally fraught relationship with Smith, one of the two drifters who killed a Kansas family, haunted him for the rest of his life. But, while the film Capote illustrated the effects of that association on his psyche, this movie goes a step further, intimating an affection between the writer and the killer that led to Capote's creative and personal unraveling.
McGrath employs a Greek chorus of actors playing his friends and associates who comment on Capote's demons and predilections in faux documentary style. We hear from Harper Lee (played with understatement and wit by Sandra Bullock), Bennett Cerf (Peter Bogdanovich), Slim Keith (Hope Davis), Babe Paley (Sigourney Weaver) and Gore Vidal (Michael Panes.)
It's a stellar cast, but you can't help but lament the bad timing.
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