Infamous (2006)

One of my all time favorites.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Awesome film - takes some getting used to - unless you find out that the portrayal of the early part if the film is true. Toby Jones was awesome and I comment the casting having scene what Truman looked like and knowing how awesome Jones is. The 'lesser parts' make for an awesome list and all were, as we expect, brilliant(Weaver, Paltrow, Stevenson, Davis, Bogdanovich and Rossellini). Brilliant and MADE the film as the lesser parts. Otherwise the main plot made no sense - essential to the film.A masterwork - screenplay, acting, directing and even the editing and cinematography.Well done indeed.

I finally caught up with Infamous and found it one of the most intriguing movies I have seen in years. Toby Jones gave a much more rounded and three-dimensional portrayal of Capote than Hoffman's in Capote. All the performances were excellent and I was totally absorbed from start to finish. Sandra Bullock, as Harper Lee, gives one of the more nuanced performances I have seen from her. In fact, all the characters were portrayed with subtlety, without any grandstanding. Jeff Daniels, as the main lawman in the case of the murders that Capote goes to Kansas to investigate, is a good example of this, as is Daniel Craig. Anyone who has not seen this movie should do so asap.

Bennett Miller's "Capote" with Phillip Seymour Hoffman got their first, leaving Doug McGrath's "Infamous" to suffer in comparison. Hoffman is superb and deserved his Oscar. But Jones, while not as skilled a performer (his Capote is more an impersonation than a character study) has more to deal with -- particularly as regards his romance with Perry Smith (a devastating Daniel Craig) I quite like the execution scene in "Infamous" particularly for its depiction of Capote overcome with sadness and running out of the chamber -- not willing to watch Smith die. But what's most markedly different about the two films is the way "Infamous" depicts Capote's New York social set: Babe Paley, Diana Vreeland, etc. They of course figured in what was to have been his next work "Answered Prayers." But when a chapter from that proposed magnum opus about New York society, "La Cote Basque: 1965" was published in "Esquire" magazine it caused a scandal that lost Capote all his friend. "Infamous" only mentions the book's title and notes he didn't write anything more substantial after "In Cold Blood." That's because of "La Cote Basque:1965." Therefore there's a THIRD Truman Capote film to be made about his unraveling. It's quite a story. The "swans" (the glamorous wealthy women he catered to) toss him out. He descends into drink, drugs and "Studio 54." Andy Warhol, who Capote had dismissed years before as an undesirable "fan" comes to his aide -- giving him the pages of his "Inter/View" magazine to write whatever he wants. He writes a few things there, notably "Handcarved Coffins" -- another true crime murder story that's even optioned by Hollywood (never made alas) But it's all over. His breakdown on the "Stanley Siegel Show" is indelible, and would make a great climax for a biopic of Capote's collapse. Anyone up for this? It could be really something.

"INFAMOUS" ~~ THE OTHER BETTER CAPOTE ... Directed by Douglas McGrath who also wrote the screenplay for Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994) and directed Paltrow in Jane Austen's "Emma", 1996. Starring Toby Jones as Truman Capote -- one of those rare cases where the actor did not "play" the role but completely entered the skin of the real life character in question. Incredibly "Infamous" was on last night on Hungarian TV, Dubbed into Hungarian but I watched it anyway, for the body language and Production values. And the general feeling of the movie. I had forgotten what an important role a deglamourised Sandra Bullock had in this picture as Capote's constant companion throughout. But the fact that this major Hollywood star was content to take a supporting role to an unknown British actor is a real mark of her professionalism. Interestingly, she smokes in just about every scene she's in, which I assume was just for the requirements of the picture. Toby Jones is head and shoulders better than Seymour Hoffman was in the role, Besides the fact that he is a dead ringer for minuscule real life Capote whereas Bulky Seymour wasn't even close. If there were anything resembling integrity In the Hollywood film world, Jones should have been a walkaway for best actor in 2007 and Bullock would have been a very worthy candidate for Best Supporting actress, female -- Come to think of it, they oughta have a special slot for "Best supporting role by a star leading actor/actress willing to take a back seat" in a quality picture.I saw "Infamous" at the 2006 Venice film festival and recognized it then as an unsung masterpiece, far far better than the Hoffman caricature earlier the same year. It opens with an incredible turn by Gwyneth Paltrow in a long white gown as Peggy Lee doing the old standard "This must Be Love" -- but she is so touched by the inherent sadness of the song that she breaks down in the middle and has to stop. What an opener! ~ possibly the best single scene Paltrow has ever done. Which sets the tone for everything to come. A series of interviews follows with celebrity contemporaries of Capote speaking to the camera and identified by name with on screen titles which gives the picture a documentary feel, but the name celebrities are themselves celebrity actors such as Sigourney Weaver and especially, Peter Bogdanovich as Bennet Cerf. I think this is definitely one of the very best pictures of the Decade, 2000- 2010, and one that I would like to own so I could watch it over and over. And don't forget Daniel Craig (later to be Dubble 007!) as death row killer Perry Smith who Capote falls in love with! The prison interviews are filmed in a kind of chiaro-oscuro and the 1959 Period atmosphere is unobtrusively authentic-- without parading collectors vintage cars across the screen in every outdoor scene. "Infamous", 2006, is a true gem in every respect but fell between the cracks because it was overshadowed by the hullabaloo over the distinctly inferior Sony Pictures production -- a classic case of the triumph of publicity over Quality.