Capote
Unfortunately the story is what is going to determine my impression on the film the most. On the one hand, I enjoyed it and there is something so very fascinating about the story, coupled with the character of Truman Capote. I have read all about it on Wikipedia I could find, and could spend an eternity reading upon his life story. (As a matter of fact, I probably did.) Weirdly enough, however, I ended up finding the background story coupled with the high acclaim of the much more gripping than the film itself.
In the end, while I have always felt an immense interest for what is happening in the film, just like for “Zodiac” I must admit that I have expected more. Maybe this is the typicaly problem for stories that are based on real people. Why “In Cold Blood” is supposedly such a is absolutely beyond my imagination. Two very simple, random people commit a very petty crime (which unfortunately ends up being murder, so it’s just enough for sensationalist media) and I just have no idea how it is even remotely possible to make something interesting out of this. For me, at least.
What made the film shine really was Truman Capote in interaction with other people. His portrayal by Philip Seymour Hoffmann, especially with this surpring high-pitched voice, is just as great as I have expected it. It seems like a character, likable and thoroughly dislikable, suddenly came through life in this film. Sadly, Maxine Harper Lee had such few lines, but I was glad to see that she delivered the most important line in the film. Even though it’s fairly obvious, she directed pointed out that Truman didn’t want to help Smith and Hickock – essentially making Capote himself the responsible for their death. I really loved the contrast from when he started working on the topic – acting almightly and becoming friends with everybody, and subsequently neglecting all those friendships afterwards when he didn’t need them anymore. Yet at the same time he’s not just some cold-blooded (bad pun intended) workaholic, he actually sort of cared for all those people. The complexity of the character Capote was wonderfully depicted in my opinion, and perhaps ultimately the reason why I ended up liking the film.
But the story left me with a feeling of emptiness. Did I miss out something? If not, I am most definitely not going to see this movie again.