Infamous
by Douglas McGrath
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DVD details
Actor: Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Rubin, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Schwelling, Toby JonesDirector: Douglas McGrath
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Infamous
DVD Review: What is Love?
Summary: 4 Stars
In writing his masterpiece Capote is led down a path of self-destruction. The viewer sees it all, from New York high society to jail cells in Kansas. Superb ensemble cast. Tobey Jones and Daniel Craig created a relationship that tugged at my heartstrings. DVD Review: Another Excellent Portrayal of Truman Capote
Summary: 5 Stars
"Infamous" has a little bit of the same problem that the film "The Wizard of Oz" had in that it was released in 1939, the same year as "Gone With The Wind," which of course took the award for best picture that year. This really good film will always be compared, perhaps unfairly, with "Capote," for which Philip Semour Hoffman won the Oscar for best actor. The British actor Toby Jones is just as believable as Hoffman as the elfin author of such American classics as BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S and of course IN COLD BLOOD, the research and writing of which is the time in Capote's life that both films cover. Jones certainly has both the stature of the writer, actually looks more like Capote than Hoffman does and has the voice and accent just right.
Based on George Plimpton's oral history of Truman Capote, the film opens with Gwyneth Paltrow singing "What Is This Thing Called Love?" and moves back and forth between scenes in New York-- with usually either Capote meeting and gossiping with his high society friends, Diana Vreeland (Juliet Stevenson), Babe Paley (Sigourney Weaver), Bennett Cerf (Peter Bogdanovich), et al or these people speaking directly to the audience as they did in the book-- and Kansas where the entire Clutter family was murdered. Sandra Bullock is cast as Harper Lee, the author of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and Capote's friend from childhood. Daniel Craig as Perry Smith, who plays one of the killers who was eventually executed for the murders, is sexy, complicated and vulnerable. While we do not excuse him for the horrific thing he has done, when we see the awful childhood he had, we can understand, at least in part, what may have got him to Kansas on that fateful night. While we will never know if Smith's and Capote's relationship was as intimate as this film indicates, it does seem certain that the writer's life was never the same after he wrote IN COLD BLOOD and that he spiralled downward and never wrote much of anything else of consequence thereafter.
As I recall, Jones plays Capote as a much more tragic and sympathetic person than Hoffman did. In "Capote" the writer comes across as much more cynical than in "Infamous" in that he really did not want the murderers to win their appeals since their executions would make his book better.
If you liked "Capote," you certainly should see "Infamous."
DVD Review: A - M - A - Z - I - N - G
Summary: 5 Stars
This infamous movie should have been
more publicised then it was accorded credit for.
The entire cast is just amazing,
performances topping Oscar nominations
that were never given.
Very touching and fun.
Should not be missed by anyone
(With an opened mind, of course,
some machos will drop dead when
they will see Daniel Craig performing here.
Be advised...)
DVD Review: The Tiny Terror and a Sensitive Bogeyman
Summary: 3 Stars
Released nearly a year after Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-winning turn in "Capote", Douglas McGrath's overlooked "Infamous" (based on George Plimpton's bestseller) covers, essentially, the same territory while remaining uniquey different from its predecessor.
Star Toby Jones has the right look for the late author, and certainly has his mannerisms down pat. More spritely, less acerbic, and less dissipated than the Capote inhabited by Hoffman, Jones has an almost wholesome winsomness that seems to be counter to most of what I've read about the real-life Capote. And while Hoffman's performance seemed to come from some dark and painful place deep within (and may, thus, seem more genuine), Jones' Capote is much more fun to watch. I think his portrayal comes closer to humanizing the fascinating "tiny terror", whose association with a notorious murder case and its perpetrators helped lead to his own downward spiral into disgrace and notoriety. As best friend and fellow author, Nell Harper Lee, Sandra Bullock continues to refine her acting skills, proving that her outstanding performance in "Crash" was no fluke. Alternately disapproving and supportive, her Nell is Truman's rock, his anchor in the often turbulent waters of his own life; she's strong and sensible, with the only problem being a Southern accent that is sorely unconvincing. As Truman's high-society "swans" from New York, Sigourney Weaver (Babe Paley), Hope Davis (Slim Keith), and Isabella Rosellini (Marella Agnelli) provide a Greek chorus of tea and sympathy for Truman's ongoing dramas. The delightful Juliet Stevenson delivers a nice turn as the fabulous Diana Vreeland, and Peter Bogdanovich is also fine as publisher and Capote confidante, Bennet Cerf. Character actor John Benjamin Hickey, as Capote's partner, Jack Dunphy, brings a lost and bittersweet edge to the film's goings-on, while Jeff Daniels, as lawman Alvin Dewey, lends the movie an element of strength and steadiness.
Of course, it is the killers of "In Cold Blood" who amp up the element of drama in both "Capote" and in "Infamous". Lee Pace (of "Pushing Daisies") is suitably scary as cold and matter-of-fact Dick Hickock, who killed without remorse, and then never shut up talking about it. But, conveying both the chilling barbarism and wounded sensitivity of murderous Perry Smith, while noting his similarities to Truman, is essential to successfully presenting a certain dichotomy that has probably rarely existed between an author and his interview subject. Robert Blake (in Richard Brooks' "In Cold Blood") epitomized the limping, pathetic Smith, humanizing him yet presenting him in a very real, warts-and-all way; Clifton Collins, in "Capote", though prettied-up, was also believable in the same role. In "Infamous", no less than 007 actor, Daniel Craig, assays the role of Perry Smith, with, I think, less successful results. He's an outstanding actor but too much of a movie star for this role; his glamour surrounds the Smith character with an aura that ultimately glamourizes the killer, imbuing him with an artificiality that dashes any hopes of bringing honesty or any real level of understanding to this most complex of characters. The physicality between the two men and the suggestion of a jailhouse affair between Capote and Smith also strains credulity, and the sexual dynamics seem false and forced. This brings an air of dishonesty to the Capote/Smith scenes, which, ultimately doesn't play well. The Clutters themselves--the Kansas farm family slain by Hickock and Smith in a bungled robbery attempt--are barely shown, and I was thankful for that. While the killings are briefly covered, the brutality of the crimes is not as much in evidence as it was in the previous films.
Except for the slaughter of the innocent family, there is nothing subtle about "Infamous". From its weirdly flaky opening (with Gwyneth Paltrow as a lounge singer) to the flambuoyant lead character to the fluttering socialites, everything seems designed to SHOUT to the viewer, to PROJECT to the audience sitting in the rafters. At times, "Infamous" seems much more like a stage play than a movie, and all this accomplishes is to make the film seem more rough than its predecessors. While there are problems with this movie, I still like it, mostly for Toby Jones' winning performance, however broad it may be.
DVD Review: Infamous
Summary: 5 Stars
Interesting movie, Toby Jones is an actor to be compared with Anthony Hopkins in talent and most any movie he is in will be great. Also the movie A Harlot's Progress is just riveting.
Description of Infamous
"Certainly as good [as Capote] and a lot more fun. Toby Jones is so physically right, you'll think Capote is playing himself." - Jack Mathews, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 1959 Manhattan was a party, and none of the glitterati glittered brighter than Truman Capote. Then he saw a story in The New York Times: "Wealthy Farmer, 3 of Family Slain," and the party ended for Capote. He plunged into the murder case that inspired his great "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood and led him into a fevered relationship with one of the two doomed killers. But there's more to the story than you know. Toby Jones (as Capote) leads Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Sigourney Weaver and many more stars in a witty, moving and astonishing tale of obsession. What happened to the extraordinary literary talent that burned within Truman Capote? The answer may be found in a story at once famous and Infamous.Infamous is inevitably compared to Capote, since it also chronicles author Truman Capote's spiral into chaos while composing his masterpiece, In Cold Blood, a breakthrough non-fictional tale told as fiction. It's a shame that Capote's critical acclaim eclipsed this film's, as Toby Jones is perfectly convincing as Capote, with his small stature and eccentric manner. Infamous mimics the novel's fictionalized non-fiction, opening on "interviews" with Capote's New York friends like Diana Vreeland (Juliet Stevenson) and Babe Paley (Sigourney Weaver). The film, set in 1959, begins with Capote's discovery of the farm family murder story and his trek out to Kansas with confidant, Nelle Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock). Stressing Capote's relationships with Lee, the film justifies Capote's marginal behavior by Lee's speaking about Capote's childhood neglect, which she also wrote into To Kill A Mockingbird. Capote's own description of his rough childhood then serves as a barrier breaker between himself and Perry Smith (Daniel Craig), the half of the Perry Smith-Dick Hickock killing team who is at first unwilling to talk. Infamous makes much of the sexual tension between Capote and Smith, implying that Capote persevered through his project for Smith's love. Based on George Plimpton's oral biography, Infamous deserves a stellar place in Capote-lore, as there is ample room for both competing films. --Trinie Dalton
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