I first became familiar with Philip Seymour Hoffman in that dog of a movie “Twister” back in 1996 when he played the chubby tornado chaser Dustin who hung out in the van and provided the comic relief, not exactly a memorable performance.  His next role as Scotty J. from “Boogie Nights” seemed to put him on the map and he began appearing in numerous films throughout the 90’s as an unusually talented character actor in such movies as “The Big Lebowski”, “Patch Adams”, “Magnolia” and others.  Capote was truly his first title role, and after his Oscar worthy performance will definitely not be his last.  Why focus on Hoffman when thinking about Capote?  Simple, he is the movie. 

Directed by Bennett Miller (a member of the film crew on Bittersweet Motel, the outstanding documentary about a little 4 piece rock ensemble from Burlington Vermont) and based on a screenplay adopted by high school classmate Dan Futterman, Capote is the first major piece of work from this duo and quite impressive to have almost struck gold on their first try.  The film is the story of flamboyant (which is what our parents generation forever living in denial called gay celebrities) author Truman Capote and the journey he undertook while researching a brutal 1959 murder in a small town in Kansas that lead to his master work “In Cold Blood” a book credited with redefining modern non-fiction writing. 

2005 is clearly the year to play gay if you want to win the gold statue (see Brokeback Mountain) and Heath Ledger could certainly take a lesson from Hoffman on this one.  Hoffman’s performance is masterful, brilliant, and full of the limp rested gayety we expect to see from any good homosexual portrayal without being a stereotype.  A Martini swilling, self-absorbed, socialite in New York City, Truman Capote gained huge fame and acceptance of his lifestyle after the release of the smash “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (the book and film not that crappy song by Deep Blue Something).  Looking for the subject of his next novel, Capote becomes obsessed with a horrifying crime in rural Kansas and sets out with gal pal and beard Harper Lee (author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” played with the charisma of a cinder block by Catherine Keener ) to research the crime, its perpetrators and the affect of horror on middle America.  In doing so, Capote begins a somewhat disturbing and manipulative relationship with the killer Perry Smith, played with a certain disturbed and slow-witted flair by Clifton Collins Jr..  Perry is using Capote to help keep him off death row, while Capote is using him for his novel, an interesting paradox where the killer’s death is the only thing that can bring closer to the book.  The book was written, so you can guess what happens. 

The movie is somewhat slow and plodding, filmed in a grainy dark style, it all serves to highlight Hoffman who gives the performance of his carrier.  He is the reason to see this film and it will be a crime if he does not get the “Best Actor” nod for the Oscar having already won the Golden Globe for the same.