An email correspondent who I believe is a member of the of the Academy of Motion Pictire Arts & Sciences wrote me the other day that he and his wife both thought that Brokeback Mountain and Capote were too long and too slow. I definitely think that is the case with Brokeback, which I also think was rather ham-handedly directed.
But my wife and I both thought Capote was about perfect. The tempo seems right, everything is included that needs to be, and nothing included that's superfluous. Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Truman Capote isn't just uncanny. It is strikingly nuanced -- a true portrait, not a mere impersonation. Capote does what many biographies today fail to do: It draws conclusions, makes inferences and judgments, in order to weave a coherent narrative (as opposed to just a chronological inventory of facts and figures). So Capote's selfish ambition is quite clear throughout. But so is his awareness of it. Moreover, if he used the killers, they were also trying to use him in turn. As Perry Smith's sister tells Capote: "Don't be taken in by my brother." The profound moral ambiguity -- and there's plenty to go around -- is what makes Capote resonate.
Terry Teachout's Journalism, Hollywood-Style has it about right.
Well, I was only citing Teachout for what he had to say about 'Capote.' I haven't seen 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' and don't plan to. Stephen Hunter of the Post pretty much demolished it. I took Teachout to be saying little more than, just as paranoids may really have enemies, so even McCarthy may have got something right from time to time. No defense of Tailgunner Joe here. Did more to discredit anti-communism than anyone I can think of. Whittaker Chambers, though, I much admire. And as for liberal guilt, well I don't even know much about the reputed Cathloc guilt.
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