Review of Infamous (2006) by Ella F — 03 Dec 2006

"Capote", the initial telling of Truman Capote's writing of In Cold Blood was released in 2005 and won Philip Seymour Hoffman an Oscar, plus received four other Oscar nominations. Yet, within a year another movie on the In Cold Blood story was released, "Infamous". What possessed the producers of the latter to make another movie on the subject, and so soon after the former, I do not know. Perhaps it was already in the works when Capote was released and they decided to push ahead anyway.

This said, I enjoyed Infamous more than Capote. While good, Capote was cold, almost documentary-like. Infamous is warmer and more emotional. It vividly captures the relationship between Truman Capote and Perry Smith, one of the murderers. The execution scene is particularly harrowing. Plus it gives a more explicit indication of the effect that the writing of In Cold Blood, and its success, had on Capote. The character depth is greater in Infamous too, and not Capote's character. The New York social scene helps greater a wider breadth of characters, and proves much warmth to the story.

Great performance by Toby Jones as Capote. Good support from Daniel Craig as Perry Smith, Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee and Jeff Daniels as the police chief. Some big names in minor roles too, and none of them disappoint: Sigourney Weaver, Peter Bagdanovich, Hope Davis, Isabella Rossellini and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The definitive story of the writing of In Cold Blood, and its aftermath.