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Infamous (2006)

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Synopsis

An account of author Truman Capote’s investigation into the murder of a Kansas family for his literary masterpiece ‘In Cold Blood’.

Movie review

From Time Out London

It’s less than fortunate and maybe disastrous for its makers that ‘Infamous’ is the second film on Truman Capote to emerge in a year. It’s also bad luck that ‘Infamous’ treads the same ground as ‘Capote’, only less steadily. There are plus points: British actor Toby Jones rivals Hoffman for intelligent mimicry and the film’s reliance on the first-person testimonies of George Plimpton’s biography allows for camp talking-head turns from Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee and Sigourney Weaver, Hope Davis and Peter Bogdanovich as members of the writer’s Manhattan coterie. But in its focus on the writing of ‘In Cold Blood’ and Capote’s curious motives for completing that work, ‘Infamous’ haunts the same territory as ‘Capote’. Its screenplay by writer-director Douglas McGrath is bolder in its assumptions: McGrath’s Capote even steals a kiss from Daniel Craig’s Perry Smith. But this same boldness is to the film’s detriment. All that was painted grey in ‘Capote’ becomes black-and-white. Still, it’s worth catching for Jones’ film-stealing turn alone.

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out London Issue 1900: January 17-24 2007

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