"…Infamy! Infamy! They've All Got It In For Me!"Surely an Oscar was due to TOBY JONES for his central performance in "Infamous"? And Daniel Craig too - menacing, sexy, intoxicating - you can see why this guy will pull off the lethal double-whammy - Bond for the boys – but films like "Defiance", "The Mother" and "Flashbacks Of A Fool" for challenging roles and acting chops.
The story begins with much of the cast narrating their thoughts on Truman Capote via interview to the camera. They discuss with dispassion this odd little American writer who was also a world-class raconteur and smoozer. Particularly good are Juliet Stevenson as the socialite and Sandra Bullock as Piper Laurie (author of "To Kill A Mockingbird").
The story begins with Truman seeing a story in a newspaper about a family wiped out in small town America. He is drawn to it without really knowing why. He and Bullock travel to the town, but are stumped by paperwork. The town sheriff (downplayed subtly and beautifully by Jeff Daniels) won't play ball and allow either access to anything to do with the case. So Truman does what he does best - he wheedles his way into the sheriff's family and their affections with his charm and tales of famous folks (a trick he uses in the interviews in jail). Then the real murderers get caught and Truman gets stuck in on both of them knowing that these scumbags want their sordid stories told. And on it goes...
The support cast is uniformly superb too – Sigourney Weaver, Hope Davis, Isabella Rossellini and Gwyneth Paltrow – all actresses of real talent and power.
"Infamous" made me like a man who some would say was superfluous to Humanity's requirements - a person who tested your patience - who was outside the norm - but used his wit, intelligence and verbal cunning to rise above the ridicule he so often evoked.
"Infamous" is a thought-provoking story about a complex, clever, irritating, pretentious and ultimately fascinating person - a tale added to by the central performance - and not dominated by it (as Phillip Seymour Hoffman did in the more lauded "Capote" movie).
I thought it was a fantastic film – and with a great cast delivering on all fronts.
Highly recommended (and roll on the BLU RAY reissue).
