Review of Infamous (2006) by Ed F — 27 Mar 2011

In a cruel twist of scheduling fate, Infamous was released almost simultaneously as Capote, a movie which deals with exactly the same subject matter, the events leading to the publication of Truman Capote's extraordinary book, In Cold Blood. There was never going to be a big enough audience for both movies and so, Infamous was largely overshadowed. It was Capote which scooped more publicity and bigger box office takings thanks to the brilliant central portrayal of the waspish author by Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is a shame as Toby Jones realisation of Capote is equally amazing and, in some key aspects, a truer representation of this complex and idiosyncratic man. Of the two, it is Jones that most physically resembles the writer facially and in diminutive stature, indeed they could almost be related.

I think of the two movies, it is this one that slightly has the edge in that it captures more successfully the sparkle and frivolity of the world that Capote lorded over. He was at the centre of the New York smart set of the late 1950s and revelled in the gossipy, superficiality while ruthlessly manipulating it to his own ends and this is well portrayed here. Capote's feelings about murderer Perry Smith, here wonderfully played by Daniel Craig, are decidedly murky and swing between empathy and disgust but at all times, recognising that he is holds the key to literary fame on a scale that he is desperate for. Capote was not a nice man, but he had charm and charisma and Toby Jones manages to remain true to that fact without distancing the audience.

He is well supported by a fantastic cast. This is possibly Sandra Bullock's best movie and as Harper Lee she manages to stand head and shoulders above her more usual whinging, one dimensional parts.

I love the film Capote as well but it lacks some of the light and outrageousness that was so much a part of the character of the man, focusing instead on his darker demons. Infamous comfortably switches between the aspects of the man's personality. His ridiculous flamboyance, shameless name dropping, attention craving nature and surgical wit are all here while his drive to tell the story, his story, of the awful murder of the Clutter family forms a painful backdrop.

It is interesting to contrast the approaches of the two movies as together, they chronicle a fascinating period of a driven man's life and ambition to be remembered at any cost.