Summary
Douglas McGrath's Infamous represents the second major biopic about the avant-garde belletrist Truman Capote to be released within a year. It thus tells roughly the same story as Bennett Miller's earlier Capote, recounting the events that belied the writer's six-year authorship of the seminal "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood. The story opens with Capote (Toby Jones) visiting the site of the 1959 Clutter family homicide, on a Kansas research trip, accompanied by his close friend and colleague, author Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock). As Capote settles into the community, McGrath uses the preponderance of screen time to explore the emotional tapestry of Capote's increasingly risky emotional attachment to one of the two murderers, Perry Edward Smith (Daniel Craig), with whom he senses more than a few common bonds. McGrath weaves a decidedly bittersweet tale, contrasting the optimism and devil-may-care, "conquer all" attitude of Capote in his early years with a seemingly endless string of poor choices in the writer's later years, from addictions to drink and pills, to a failure to maintain healthy output as a writer, to poorly chosen romantic and sexual entanglements. Most significantly, however, McGrath reveals how the relationship with Smith virtually destroyed Capote as an artist and a human being, by inducing him to sell out on all levels to satisfy his lust for accomplishment and notoriety. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
What starts out as the irreverent journey of the openly gay writer Truman Capote to the middle-class world of 1950's Kansas, where he goes--with his childhood friend Harper Lee--to research the murder of the Clutter family, turns to something altogether darker when Capote forms an intense and complex relationship with one of the murderers. In doing so, he produced his greatest work, In Cold Blood, but at a devastating personal cost.
Additional Information
Subjects |
Capote, Truman,
-- 1924-1984
-- Drama.
Hickock, Richard Eugene, -- 1931-1965 -- Drama. Smith, Perry Edward, -- 1928-1965 -- Drama. Novelists, American -- Drama. Serial murders -- United States -- Drama. Judgments, Criminal -- United States -- Drama. Hanging -- United States -- Drama. Feature films. Murder in motion pictures. Biographical films. Historical films. Video recordings for the hearing impaired. |
Publisher | Burbank, CA :Warner Home Video,2007 |
Edition | Widescreen. |
Other Titles | Truman Capote. |
Contributors |
McGrath, Douglas.
Jones, Toby, 1967- Bullock, Sandra. Craig, Daniel, 1968- Bogdanovich, Peter, 1939- Daniels, Jeff, 1955- Davis, Hope, 1967- Paltrow, Gwyneth, 1972- Rossellini, Isabella. Stevenson, Juliet. Weaver, Sigourney, 1949- Pace, Lee, 1979- Panes, Michael. Hickey, John Benjamin. Plimpton, George. Truman Capote. Portman, Rachel. Warner Independent Pictures. Killer Films. Warner Home Video (Firm) |
Participants/Performers |
Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Peter Bogdanovich, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isabella Rossellini, Juliet Stevenson, Sigourney Weaver, Lee Pace, Michael Panes, John Benjamin Hickey. |
Other Contributors |
Director of photography, Bruno Delbonnel ; editor, Camilla Toniolo ; music, Rachel Portman. |
Audience |
MPAA rating: R; for language, violence and some sexuality. |
Language |
English French Spanish English language track with English, French and Spanish subtitles; closed-captioned. |
Notes |
Title from container. Originally released as a motion picture in 2006. Based on the novel Truman Capote by George Plimpton. Special features include: commentary by Douglas McGrath; theatrical trailer. |
System Details |
DVD, Dolby Digital 5.1, Region 1 encoding. |
Description |
1 videodisc (118 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. |
ISBN | 1419848488 |
Other | Classic View |