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Catherine Keener: "Capote"

 A favorite movie of mine is "Capote."


One thing it reminds me of us is an apparent quote from Bob Fosse: If you're a dancer, you have to use every part of your body. The way you hold your fingers, or move your shoulder, or nod your head: Each moment should be a conscious decision, and the moment should help to create a mood. Philip Seymour Hoffman is dazzling in his big movie, not just because of his Oscar-reel scene at the end, but also because of his silences, his laugh, and even the way he breathes just before addressing a crowd.

People forget that Catherine Keener also earned an Oscar nomination for this movie, and I like to try to locate the moments in the script she might have especially admired. In a way, the script feels like a Nicole Holofcener piece (and it's interesting that Holofcener has moved away from of-the-moment contemporary-setting work, in the last few years). Keener has a great opening; she watches a porter praising "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and she guesses (correctly) that Capote has paid the porter to make these scripted remarks. I think Keener must enjoy this next little story, attributed to Capote: "I went to visit Marilyn Monroe, in her home, last week, and she had four works by Matisse. And I said, Marilyn, two of these are upside-down...." I have one other "Holofcener-adjacent" moment in mind: Capote blithely says, "Of course, I don't really care if you ever find the people responsible for these murders." And Sgt. Dewey clears his throat; he says, quietly, "I see. I care...."

"Capote" is a kind of sequel to a Janet Malcolm book, "The Journalist and the Murderer." In that book, Malcolm argues that journalism is, clearly, a bad-faith enterprise; you pretend to empathize with your subject, but really you're looking for gaps in the story, moments of evasion. You hope to expose a truth, and a truth is never really the same thing as a narrative you're asked to ingest, in an interview. All writers have a chip of ice in their heart; it's just that the chip in Capote's heart was perhaps bigger than most. Capote wasn't quietly misleading; he was a cheerful, energetic liar; he was actually impatient to throw his subjects "under the bus."

I think this is a good movie to watch after "The White Lotus." People squirm, in a Mike White hour, because the emphasis on transactional behavior is so strong. We squirm because we all know that we, personally, are guilty of this sin. And that's true in "Capote," as well; we may not be Truman, but we all know what it's like to give a performance, to take iffy short-cuts in an effort to get what we want.

What a treat to revisit this movie.
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