Infamous (2006)- Movie of the day (2/2/10)

Movie of the day: Infamous (2006)
starring Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Peter Bogdanovich, Daniel Craig, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isabella Rosselinni, Juliet Stevenson, and Sigourney Weaver.

There's no denying that 2005's Capote was a well-made film about how celebrated author Truman Capote came to write his best-selling book "In Cold Blood"; the story of a slain mid-western family and their murderers. The film earned a spot on many critics top 10 lists and is considered the definitive film account of that part of American culture. Yet many do not know of Infamous; a film released the following year which dealt with the same subject, but proved to be a much different film altogether.

Filmed at the same time as Capote, Infamous likewise chronicles Capote's (Jones) discovery of the heartless killings of a family in middle America and his attempt to find out everything he could about the case from the local authroities and about the killers; one of whom Capote became very enamoured with. Alongside during his journey was close friend and author Harper Lee (Bullock) who acted not just as his confidant, but also conscience as well as guide. Yet the further he progressed with his book, the more obsessed he became; a fact noted in documentary-style interviews shown throughout the film with Capote's friends and associates.

In all honesty, the most compelling aspect of the first film, Capote, was Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance. It's absolutely brilliant. Hoffman captures the appropriate characteristics of the author and delivers them well. Apart from that, the movie seemed more concerned with mood and tone than with story and characterization and almost went out of its way to be overly bleak. Infamous on the other hand, differs wildly from its predecessor. To begin with Jones' performance is a revelation, and while it does not reach the depth of Hoffman's, it does show another side of Capote's personality which at times is so dead on accurate. Beyond this, the supporting cast is littered with all kinds of colorful and interesting characters played by an assortment of well-respected actors. The standout of the supporting players is of course Bullock who as Lee, brings an energy and vitality that was left out of Catherine Keener's portrayal in the same role a year earlier. Infamous sees Bullock abandoning all traces of a Hollywood movie star and giving a performance thats as real and honest as they come.

Yet I feel the film's greatest strength lies in its contrast between the two worlds it depicts. On one side there is the flashy world of New York society with gossip, cocktails and dinner parties and on the other there is the low-key world of the small town where conservativism and old fasioned values are held onto. Seeing Jones' Capote maintain the same levels of his character between the two worlds could not have been an easy feat to do, yet the filmmakers, and especially the actor, manage to pull it off fantastically.

Its not that I'm calling Capote a bad film, but in so many ways its plain to see how Infamous is far more superior due to the various risks the filmmakers took with it. The truth is that Infamous went into areas the first film failed to explore. But not many people want to see the same story twice, and as a result, Infamous was all but forgotten shorty after its arrival. However it is still worth checking out since, as the tagline states, "there's more to the story than you know..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZw8ORyIbLI