Infamous film review

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INFAMOUS

It's a somewhat surreal experience watching Infamous - the second Truman Capote biopic in a year, and one which deals with exactly the same subject matter, namely the effervescent writer's attempt to break new ground with his 'non-fiction novel' In Cold Blood. But to the credit of director Douglas McGrath and thanks to a sublime central performance by English actor Toby Jones, Infamous not only stands its own ground but arguably surpasses the earlier film.

Indeed, if Capote the film had never existed, and Philip Seymour Hoffman had not won his Academy Award, then it's quite likely that awards voters would be ticking Jones' name in their nomination forms. He manages to portray the flamboyant writer without any contrivances, and while still conveying the eminently bitchy nature of the man, a more sympathetic side emerges as well. The bleak, cold individual that Hoffman portrayed is given a more rounded aspect by Jones. He may be a long shot come Oscar night, but in the crazy world of Hollywood awards anything can happen.

Based on the wonderfully titled George Plimpton book Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career, the film portrays Capote as the now-familiar loose-tongued socialite who could never keep a secret and dined with the world's finest ladies who lunch. Variously played by Sigourney Weaver, Juliet Stevenson, Hope Davis and Isabella Rossellini, they are a fickle bunch who like nothing more than swapping salacious gossip.

This is in stark contrast to the world he finds in Kansas when he begins his investigation into the quadruple murder that would become the foundation for his book. His life changes when he encounters Perry Smith, one of the murderers and here played by an almost unrecognizable Daniel Craig. It's their relationship that makes the second half of the film a darker but much more absorbing affair, and in suggesting that they went beyond a platonic friendship, it charts new ground.

Even if you have already seen Capote, Infamous is a memorable affair, and if you haven't, it's possibly a better starting point: less dependent on one central performance, and more human in its depiction.

Paul Hurley