Blog From The Bench

Back in to the art house cinema for me this weekend. I checked out the Philip Seymour Hoffman biopic of Truman Capote. The film chronicles Capote's research for his only full blown novel In Cold Blood, and it does so quite well. Hoffman is completely convincing as the mincing Southern author who was in love with his own writing more than anything else. Catherine Keener is remarkable playing his research assistant and fellow author Nelle Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbord). The pair take off to a small town in Kansas to investigate the impact of a brutal killing on a small farm community, and in the process discover several disconcerting truths about human nature and the strange links between who you are and what you write about. It's a fascinating film that should create some Oscar buzz for both actors, at least if the Academy has any sense. If the movie comes anywhere near you then see it. It makes the perfect bookend to Cronenberg's A History of Violence. Great stuff!