Crime and punishment captivatingly captured in film ‘Capote’

‘Capote’, spellbinding and awe-striking debut direction of Bennett Miller will be screened at the American Centre, Colombo-3 at 6.00 pm on Tuesday, October 7.

Adapted from Gerald Clarke's first full-length biography, 'Capote' is clever and quick, creating scenes that are sometimes bizarre or funny, but never heavy-handed. Without plodding speeches or Oscar-bait tantrums, Capote weaves together a hauntingly realistic portrait of the charismatic and the grotesque. Capote is also the maiden film of producer and writer Dan Futterman.

In 1959, a newspaper article about the murder of the Clutter family in the tiny town of Holcomb, Kansas, caught the eye of the novelist Truman Capote. Inspired by the story material, Capote and his partner, Harper Lee, travel to the town to research for an article. However, as Capote digs deeper into the story, he is inspired to expand the project into what would be his greatest work, 'In Cold Blood'.

To that end, he arranges extensive interviews with the prisoners, especially with Perry Smith, a quiet and articulate man with a troubled history. As he works on his book, Capote feels some compassion for Perry which in part prompts him to help the prisoners to some degree. However, that feeling deeply conflicts with his need for closure for his book which only an execution can provide.The star cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins, Jr., Chris Cooper and Bruce Greenwood.