Usually, the less I know about a movie, the better. But that wasn’t the case with Capote. Having an understanding of who he was, how society saw him at the time, and knowing how significant his novel was helped me enjoy this movie even more.

Watching Philip Seymour Hoffman deliver the male performance of the year is, by itself, worth the price of admission. But you get a lot more than that. Seeing how one of the greatest novels of the 20th century came to be makes for an absorbing ride and a rewarding movie experience.

The movie covers Truman Capote’s trip to Kansas to cover the affects of a brutal mass-murder on the locals. His original intention was just to write an article for a magazine. His prying into the case started feeding his imagination and in the process he developed a style for a novel that, although all too common today, was unheard of at the time.

Why was Capote able to deliver this masterpiece? What connected him to the killer? And what made Capote a celebrity and such a darling of many social circuits? The movie explores all these themes and takes us slowly and teasingly into the minds of both a brutal killer and a talented author.

Priceless Scene: When Capote, a man well-known for his conceit and inflated ego, utters the name he has in mind for the new novel, In Cold Blood, the line that follows that, as delivered by Philip, fully conveys the idea that within his world, Capote was supremely confident and assured. Give Mr. Hoffman the Oscar.