Infamous Reviews

[Sabin]

I like 'Capote'. It's solid if narrow-minded. If anything, 'Infamous' is the more exceptional film in capturing what a Truman Capote film should be even if it's overreaching and uneven. I think I cared for it more. There's little to grasp on 'Capote' on repeat viewings, but 'Infamous', I'd wager, is far more an embarrassment of riches. There's no question that Toby Jones IS Truman Capote. The fact that he's a little gay man who's been doing a Capote one-man show for years has nothing to do with it. He gets to the bottom of it without resorting to trickery or studied impressions. The man's damn near flawless. I think Daniel Craig is very, very good as Perry, far more so than Clifton Collins, but perhaps that was the directing that held Collins back. What was there to do in his chaste (emotionally & physically) relationship with Truman in the film 'Capote'? In 'Infamous', the two have a chamber drama that is combustible. When it climaxes into the sexual, it's not entirely convincing but still cathartic and incredibly emotional. Craig's performance is a striking mix of violence, sensuality, and fatalism, whereas Collins' is dully martyrrific.

The directing is just as placid as Bennett Miller's though, with even more basic coverage and duller cinematography. It's point and shoot but he's blessed enough with a stronger cast and a stronger screenplay. The film could've benefited from a more visual stylist, and at times this film feels like a Woody Allen movie and not from his Gordon Willis period. And the talking heads are more than enough by half at least. Only in the final act when Truman and Perry's relationship has become clearly romantic do they start to speak volumes besides gadfly gossip. To remove Truman Capote's sexuality or to make it flaccid as in 'Capote' is to dilute the artistic voice of an intrinsically queeny human. 'Infamous' is a gay movie about a gay man, whereas 'Capote' is a depressing movie about a depressed man. They both have their virtues and their faults (I would argue that tonally, 'Infamous' is a bit of a mess sometimes with its talking heads) but 'Infamous' is the stronger piece of filmmaking.

And the opening scene is phenomenal.

[OscarGuy]

I won't get to see Infamous for some time, possibly not even until video, but I would say of Catharine Keener this. For playin Harper Lee, she did a really good job of playing herself. My meaning (to clarify for anyone who would misinterpret) is that I saw in Harper Lee in Capote Catharine Keener. I didn't see anything amazing or interesting. I just saw Catharine Keener and pretty much the same Catharine Keener I've seen in everything else.

[The Original BJ]

Yes, I liked Bullock's performance. Not quite as much as I liked Toby Jones and Daniel Craig, but I thought Bullock was quite good, fiendish and fun, but with a sense of sadness. At the risk of inciting your wrath (haha), I don't think it's astonishing work, but, as Damien says, it is memorable and lively, two words I would NEVER use to describe Keener's barely there performance in Capote. While not blown away, I was, quite frankly, impressed, and would like to see Bullock move away from goofy romantic comedy parts and try her hand at more serious roles in films such as this.

[VanHelsing]

But I concur 100% with Damien, and so there is no need to reiterate his comments, because he has so wonderfully nailed on the head every point I would have to make about this film.

BJ, is this inclusive of the good comments Damien gave to Bullock's performance?

At the risk of inciting VanHelsing’s wrath, ...

Oh c'mon flipp! Haven't you heard that apart from slaying vampires (except for Kate Beckinsale), I'm also known as Mister Congeniality. So, how are you gonna feel my wrath? Just don't go overboard. LOL! :p

[OscarGuy]

First of all, I run a website. My official reviews are posted there, so by that simple fact, it's not a stretch to believe that was more than just a snippet.

I will admit he had a few good scenes...BUT a few scenes do NOT make a great performance. I'd look to Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters to provide one of the most well rounded and TRULY exemplary performances. A couple of scenes are good, but don't make it sound like I thought he was the best choice for the role or even remotely close to the best actor of the year, which I've clearly stated in other posts was a distinction belonging to others.

[flipp525]

Let's clarify my quote, shall we: "There were times when Hoffman came very close to capturing the man himself but the voice just grated on my nerves after awhile." Used out of context like you did, Flipp, makes it sound I thought he was quite good. Whereas looking at the full quote indicates that I thought he was only sometimes good but otherwise not.

Now, what I posted was a small capsule of a review that I never finished writing. Had I gone into more depth, I would have clarified a lot of my thoughts about how hollow I thought Hoffman's performance was overall. He sometimes does a good job invoking Truman but for the most part it's merely shallow superficiality.

I hate to get bogged down in minutiae here but since you opened the door...I tried to add your sentiment when I said, "if not for the annoying and grating voice" (my words) so I don't think my quoting you was as egregiously out-of-context as you're making it out to be. If we're going to go back to your original post, let's include all facets of it.

For example, you left out this quote in your response: "Hoffman did have a few exemplary scenes (including one near the end when he's speaking to Perry and Dick for the final time)." I made it sound like you thought he was quite good because you used the word "exemplary" which is, like, beyond good.

Also, there's nothing in your review that suggested it was unfinished or in draft mode so I could only cite it as it had been posted.

[OscarGuy]

Let's clarify my quote, shall we: "There were times when Hoffman came very close to capturing the man himself but the voice just grated on my nerves after awhile." Used out of context like you did, Flipp, makes it sound I thought he was quite good. Whereas looking at the full quote indicates that I thought he was only sometimes good but otherwise not.

Now, what I posted was a small capsule of a review that I never finished writing. Had I gone into more depth, I would have clarified a lot of my thoughts about how hollow I thought Hoffman's performance was overall. He sometimes does a good job invoking Truman but for the most part it's merely shallow superficiality.

[Big Magilla]

I went back and read some of y’all’s reviews of Capote and interestingly, at the time, a lot of you found Hoffman’s performance quite great. Magilla finds him “good in surprising ways”; Sonic calls his performance “terrific”; and, most recently, OscarGuy says that Hoffman comes “very close to capturing the man himself” (if not for the annoying and grating voice). I suppose the double-whammy of hindsight and a better performance by a virtually unknown actor have allowed the strengths of Hoffman’s performance to be outweighed by the many weaknesses.

Wow, I don't remember that quote. I did think he gave an accomplished performance in a film I liked. Not having seen Infamous, I don't know if I'd like the new film more or not - the critics are split on that. However, I can state unequivocably that from the little I have seen that Toby Jones is much more on the money as far as providing the look and feel of the real Truman Capote. I've seen Toby Jones in other projects where he looks and sounds nothing like Capote, but here he is astonishingly like the real thing.

No one knows what the real Harper Lee was/is like as she is an intensely private person, but the character Catherine Keener played bears little to no resemblence of the character of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, whereas Sandra Bullock plays her like a grown-up version of that fictional impersonation of the child Lee was.

[Sonic Youth]

It’s a real shame that the majority of Academy voters didn't look a bit deeper into Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance and see how surface-y it really was.

They weren't making their choice in a bubble, you know. He also captured a great many other awards and (unlike Jaime Foxx) critics' prizes. He wasn't solely an Academy pheenom.

I went back and read some of y’all’s reviews of Capote and interestingly, at the time, a lot of you found Hoffman’s performance quite great. Magilla finds him “good in surprising ways”; Sonic calls his performance “terrific”; and, most recently, OscarGuy says that Hoffman comes “very close to capturing the man himself” (if not for the annoying and grating voice).

Annoying and grating? I'd use that to describe Heath Ledger's voice in Brokeback.

But because of the nature of their roles, both actors are stuck with it.

I tried to put up a staunch defense for Hoffman in this thread.

[The Original BJ]

I've been meaning to post a review of this surprisingly enjoyable film (surprising to me because I wasn't all that wild about Capote and was even less excited about sitting through another film on the same subject).

But I concur 100% with Damien, and so there is no need to reiterate his comments, because he has so wonderfully nailed on the head every point I would have to make about this film.

[Damien]

At the risk of inciting VanHelsing’s wrath, I have a very different interpretation of the two Harper Lee performances. Bullock’s disapproval of Capote’s actions had no meat in Infamous. It was very “Oh, Truman! You little devil” to me. Even her reactions in that scene in the hotel room where he’s all “F--k off, Nelle!” didn’t ring true to me. I didn’t see the woman who wrote “To Kill A Mockingbird” and then went on to go into virtual seclusion never to produce that highly-anticipated sophomore novel. Yes, she was fun and spunky but, IMO, she lacked that mediator-like role. The ying to Truman’s swishy yang, the one who made it possible for him to communicate with the Holcomb townspeople. Keener’s palpable condemnation of what her best friend was doing was compelling and believable to me. Interestingly, you used the word “gravitas” to describe what Bullock brought to the role. In a post I made on the “November Predictions” thread yesterday, I used the same exact word to describe what was actually lacking in her performance.

Flipp, I guess because we don't have an image of what the real Harper Lee is like -- due to her post-Mockingbird life of seclusion -- it's impossible to see whether Keener's or Bullock's is the more accurate (in the sense of impersonation). All we can do is to juusge which interpretation makes the most sense in terms of the narrative and inter-relationships, and I just feel that Truman Capote would have had little patience for Keener's version, and, in fact, Keener's would have quickly tired of him, as well. I could believe this woman would write "To Kill A Mockingbird"; I couldn't believe she would be an integral part of Truman Capote's life. Bullock, however, I can picture being both an acclaimed writer and Capote's buddy.

By the way, I was looking at some stills from "Capote" and in just about all of them, Hoffman was wearing glasses -- I wonder what kind of actor-ly crutch this was, as Jones's Truman went glaases-free.

[dws1982]

I didn’t see the woman who wrote “To Kill A Mockingbird” and then went on to go into virtual seclusion never to produce that highly-anticipated sophomore novel. Yes, she was fun and spunky but, IMO, she lacked that mediator-like role. The ying to Truman’s swishy yang, the one who made it possible for him to communicate with the Holcomb townspeople. Keener’s palpable condemnation of what her best friend was doing was compelling and believable to me.

In Capote, I never understood how Keener's Harper Lee bridged the gap between Capote and the Holcomb natives--maybe if the film had dealt with that more, her performance might feel complete. I did like the way Keener delivered her final line to Hoffman, but to me there was nothing at all in Keener's performance--or in the character as written--to suggest a unique personality, or a life outside of the film. Keener's character could just have easily been named Second Banana, and it wouldn't have made any difference.

Infamous hasn't come to my town yet, so I can't comment on Bullock's interpretation.

[Damien]

Damien - a great review, but you might want to correct a few typos. Catherine Keener was dull as dishwater, not a dishwasher. It was Daniel Craig, not Clarke, and Jeff Daniels, not Jack Daniels.

LOL Thanks Magilla. Hmmm, JACK Daniels? -- and I don't even drink corn whiskey.

[flipp525]

Whereas Phillip Seymour Hoffman strained mightily to impersonate and fit into Truman Capote’s persona – so much so that he gave the writer the off-putting and inappropriate appearance of being continuously constipated – Toby Jones simply IS Truman Capote. With Hoffman, one was always aware of an actor playing a part, but Jones’s performance is absolutely seamless. And Jones also succeeds in what was Hoffman’s worst failing: he conveys Truman Capote’s charm and charisma, and enables us to comprehend the attraction he had for people, despite his undeniably odd demeanor. Jones is often very, very funny – Hoffman was not even vaguely amusing.

Catherine Keener’s Harper Lee was dull as dishwasher, a schoolmarm of whom one couldn’t conceive as a person with whom Capote would be friends with. The memorably lively Bullock, on the other hand, also provides the moral gravitas called for, be she additionally creates a character who has a sense of fun and mischief and curiosity – she indeed seems like she’s Mary Badham of “To Kill A Mockingbird” all grown up.

Damien, I agree with a lot of what you say in your review. Infamous is a much more well-rounded look into the genesis of “In Cold Blood” and really does succeed in showing a three-dimensional main character, completely inhabited by Toby Jones. It’s a real shame that the majority of Academy voters didn't look a bit deeper into Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance and see how surface-y it really was. Heath Ledger was the real winner of the Best Actor award last year, at least on this board.

I went back and read some of y’all’s reviews of Capote and interestingly, at the time, a lot of you found Hoffman’s performance quite great. Magilla finds him “good in surprising ways”; Sonic calls his performance “terrific”; and, most recently, OscarGuy says that Hoffman comes “very close to capturing the man himself” (if not for the annoying and grating voice). I suppose the double-whammy of hindsight and a better performance by a virtually unknown actor have allowed the strengths of Hoffman’s performance to be outweighed by the many weaknesses.

At the risk of inciting VanHelsing’s wrath, I have a very different interpretation of the two Harper Lee performances. Bullock’s disapproval of Capote’s actions had no meat in Infamous. It was very “Oh, Truman! You little devil” to me. Even her reactions in that scene in the hotel room where he’s all “F--k off, Nelle!” didn’t ring true to me. I didn’t see the woman who wrote “To Kill A Mockingbird” and then went on to go into virtual seclusion never to produce that highly-anticipated sophomore novel. Yes, she was fun and spunky but, IMO, she lacked that mediator-like role. The ying to Truman’s swishy yang, the one who made it possible for him to communicate with the Holcomb townspeople. Keener’s palpable condemnation of what her best friend was doing was compelling and believable to me. It's a subtle, affecting performance that adds a perfect moral balance to Capote's questionable ethics. Keener's performance almost reminded me of Rachel Griffiths' in Hilary and Jackie -- quietly complementing her more tormented and scenery-chewing counterpart. Honestly, I thought her portrayal gave some light shades to Harper Lee's own sad sort of outcome as a recluse and one-hit literary wonder.

Interestingly, Damien, you used the word “gravitas” to describe what Bullock brought to the role. In a post I made on the “November Predictions” thread yesterday, I used the same exact word to describe what was actually lacking in her performance.

[VanHelsing]

Well, a dishwasher can be dull too. :p

And luckily Damien didn't misspell Bullock's name, or else... >:(