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Now I'm a dork and had to watch this movie because I'd already seen "Capote" and wanted to watch another movie basically take on the same subject. Like fanfiction, it is so very easy to tell the exact same story in completely different ways.
For those who don't know, both movies are about Truman Capote, brilliant writer and flaming jackass, investigating the infamous murders of the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959, how he wrote In Cold Blood about it, and basically how he got obsessed with the case/killers.
Both movies deal with the fact that Capote was an incredibly manipulative person, brilliant as I said, but lonely and needy. He bonded with one of the murderers, but how close he bonded with Perry Smith, and why, is really what both movies end up trying to explore.
I like both films. Don't get me wrong."Capote" shows off how dark and detached Capote could be, how he shared that in common with both killers. And "Capote" is cinematically the better film. The more polished. But, what it didn't do was show how clever and charming and witty Capote could be, and yet how all of that was just the act he did to keep people near him, loving him. So in "Infamous" you get Capote being brilliant and unapologetically flaming whether he was in Manhattan or in Kansas (what's the point of trying to hide it, with that voice?) but also being vulnerable and honest when he meets someone who is strangely similiar--Perry Smith.
It's here that I have to mention that Perry Smith is played by Daniel Craig, doing almost what he did with Bond. Someone who responds with violence because it's what they know, but who longs for something better. He could slit your throat or help you buy a kitten. Seriously. And Capote can't help responding to that. He is, after all, a guy who promises secrecy and honesty to his friends and then almost gleefully distorts the truth and what's on or off the record in order to make his story better.
(Which brought up interesting detachment/defense mechanisms in writers, at least to me, how he keeps trying to filter his pain through his characters and stay distant...which only works until Perry calls him on it in the most violent --and hot--- way possible).
And that's another thing...while I don't know how open with his sexuality his friends were, the movie doesn't shy away from it. Nor does it shy from the interesting possibility that "Capote" only suggested, that he fell in love with Perry despite his intentions, and Perry fell in love with him despite knowing Capote was full of shit.
Toby Jones, btw, who plays Capote in this....fuckin' amazing. That's all I can say. This movie had me sort of insanely turned on, and laughing, and then about to cry because I LOVE DOOMED AND TRAGIC GAY LOVE.
*ahem*
All in all, watch them both. Liked "Capote". Loved "Infamous".
And oh yes, did I mention Daniel Craig doing sensitive brute in a wifebeater, all tatted up? mmmm.
"You're in control until you're not."
For those who don't know, both movies are about Truman Capote, brilliant writer and flaming jackass, investigating the infamous murders of the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959, how he wrote In Cold Blood about it, and basically how he got obsessed with the case/killers.
Both movies deal with the fact that Capote was an incredibly manipulative person, brilliant as I said, but lonely and needy. He bonded with one of the murderers, but how close he bonded with Perry Smith, and why, is really what both movies end up trying to explore.
I like both films. Don't get me wrong."Capote" shows off how dark and detached Capote could be, how he shared that in common with both killers. And "Capote" is cinematically the better film. The more polished. But, what it didn't do was show how clever and charming and witty Capote could be, and yet how all of that was just the act he did to keep people near him, loving him. So in "Infamous" you get Capote being brilliant and unapologetically flaming whether he was in Manhattan or in Kansas (what's the point of trying to hide it, with that voice?) but also being vulnerable and honest when he meets someone who is strangely similiar--Perry Smith.
It's here that I have to mention that Perry Smith is played by Daniel Craig, doing almost what he did with Bond. Someone who responds with violence because it's what they know, but who longs for something better. He could slit your throat or help you buy a kitten. Seriously. And Capote can't help responding to that. He is, after all, a guy who promises secrecy and honesty to his friends and then almost gleefully distorts the truth and what's on or off the record in order to make his story better.
(Which brought up interesting detachment/defense mechanisms in writers, at least to me, how he keeps trying to filter his pain through his characters and stay distant...which only works until Perry calls him on it in the most violent --and hot--- way possible).
And that's another thing...while I don't know how open with his sexuality his friends were, the movie doesn't shy away from it. Nor does it shy from the interesting possibility that "Capote" only suggested, that he fell in love with Perry despite his intentions, and Perry fell in love with him despite knowing Capote was full of shit.
Toby Jones, btw, who plays Capote in this....fuckin' amazing. That's all I can say. This movie had me sort of insanely turned on, and laughing, and then about to cry because I LOVE DOOMED AND TRAGIC GAY LOVE.
*ahem*
All in all, watch them both. Liked "Capote". Loved "Infamous".
And oh yes, did I mention Daniel Craig doing sensitive brute in a wifebeater, all tatted up? mmmm.
"You're in control until you're not."
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he's as much a borderline pyschopath/psychopath as perry smith probably. i mean, he's got the classic neglected/abandoned kid syndrome, moved around. but he was smart enoguh to see the normal relationships, to emulate them, but he didn't know anything about it, mother consumed with booze and her own depression, sending him away. replacement fathers. distant aunts. no close bonds at all.
and then there's the smart thing. and the freak thing. (that voice, that height). he's internalized that he's different, and then physically he's different. the only good difference is that he's smarter than most other people, and he can be funny. and wow does he use that.
but as much as he needs the approval/worship, he resents it, because he knows exactly he had to do to get it. (how in 'infamous' his 'swans' all have pet names for him, like a dog). and since he's not really attached to them, he still gets to be smug and superior and above it all.
hmmm i wonder if that was also part of his shock after 'in cold blood'. if being dragged down into basically what he had wanted his whole life (to be like everyone else, or at least how he perceived them) after years of openly sneering at it was just too much.
all those feelings, all at once. and none of them pleasant too. twice the shock.
there's articles somewhere about abandoned kids and orphans and the *incredible* things they will do in order to win people's public love and loyalty, but how little they understand of giving it in return....
and...
*geek*
ne ne i wuv you. :)
From:
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Interesting that Gore Vidal and Truman had similar kinds of mothers. Real beauties who had a fatal attraction for the sauce. Although I think Gore's mother didn't end up offing herself. Just drank herself to death more or less. Have you read Washington, D.C.? If ever a man had mother isues, it is Gore Vidal. And for entirely legitimate reasons from what I've read about her. Although it sounds like Gore Vidal's father was a straight up guy, which probably saved him somewhat. Plus the brains. Whereas Truman's father was little more than a crook. Actually he was a crook. Landed in jail. A con man in the old sense of the word.
Gore had no trouble sustaining a lifelong relationship with Howard Austen, they were together for something like 50 years, but they NEVER slept with each other. Which is perhaps an entirely different kind of weird.
Ne ne? Pets. I ache for him always.
When you read the snippets of Answered Prayers you do get a real sense of the resentment. That he finally hated them for making him their court jester. But he also adored the lifestyle. He mucking around on the weekends with the Paleys at their various estates. Providing bon mots on cue. Must have gotten really tiring. Why he couldn't be happy with his brilliance, and he was brilliant is, perhaps the true tragedy. It wasn't enough.
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supposedly, catherine hepburn didn't enjoy sex very much either, with a man or a woman, yet was deeply in love with spencer tracy...who had his own issues (local studly mechanic when he was drunk enough). they were in love for years and apparently hardly ever had sex or even slept together.
From:
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There was a fascinating confluence of gay writers in the early 50s in New York. Truman, Gore, and Tennessee Williams sort of formed this gay cabal. John Bowles was in there as well. Plus Norman Mailer (not that he was gay but he burst on the scene at the same time), a few others. It was sort of a post-war renaissance for writers. And you have to admire these guys. Tennessee and Gore were writing gay-themed works in the 1950s! And Truman was completely out there about his sexuality. They were all very brave about it. Pretty soon after Gore and Truman hit New York they fell out. Except they were friends with Tennessee and John Bowles so they kept running in to each other. They fell out with Tennessee every now and then, who sounded like a RAGING queen. It's a very interesting period.
Gore's just written (no doubt) his last book, a biography, which was so-so. He really was completely brilliant in a way that makes Truman look stupid (and he was far from that). But Gore harnassed his talents and Truman squandered them. They moved in the same social circles, hobnobbing with minor and not so minor European royalty, and the social register in this country. But Gore was born into that life and didn't have to whore himself for an entree. Like poor Truman did.
However, I think that Gore had plenty of lovers, just didn't make it with Howard. Truman did have a life-long companion in Jack Dunphy (they had side by side houses on Long Island), but in the last fifteen years of his life had all these horrible men on the side who were little more than thugs. Jack was "with" Truman for something like 30 years, but began distancing himself after "In Cold Blood" as Truman began really courting the social register, with the book's success being a convenient door into that world.
I guess I think you can meet your emotional and intellectual "match" and not fuck them. And if you were really fucked up about sex, then you'd preserve that relationship by NOT fucking them. But if you equate sex with acceptance and love (like Truman did), then I think you're screwed. Especially if you hate yourself because then you screw people who hate you, completing the circle.
Truman wrote a piece where he sort of interviewed himself. A conversation with himself. Maybe it appears in the cobbled together edition of Answered Prayers. If anyone hated themselves, it was Truman Capote. It made quite a stir when it came out because it was so raw.
From:
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I ought to read these things now. (You know, I was considering whether my love for this movie was really just me classically avoiding crap that is my life with a new obsession... and the answer is probably. :) but oh well. It's Daniel Craig--tortured and gay and in love---)
Lots of women equate sex with acceptance and love. I think it screws you up all the way around. If you're gay and living in the fifties...
Thugs, huh? Trying to relive something (or someone)?????
Naughty Truman.
From:
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There was another blue-collar type in there and then the bank V.P., who was really just a thug in a tie. THAT was a twisted relationship because this guy was married and introduced Truman to his family and then when the relationship started to go sour (like right away), Truman started to co-op members of John's family to use against him. Actually became friends with John's daughter, who he tried to play Pygmalion with, introduced her to N.Y. society, arranged a few photo shoots. Essentially to torture John. Even paid John's wife a few bucks. Acted liked a surrogate husband. It was WEIRD!
If you like historical novels, you can't beat Gore Vidal's Washington series. You should read them in order. Burr is his most amusing, Lincoln his best. I CRIED when I read that book it was so well done. Truman vacillates between brilliance and cattiness. In Cold Blood is superb, really his best, but I also enjoy his short stories.
Norman Mailer I despise, but then I find it difficult to read writers who hate women. His misogyny is so in your face that it makes reading him impossible for me.
And obsession to avoid crap in your life? Why do you think I write fanfiction?
From:
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Truman sounds very Lawrence of Arabia-esque. mmmm. lovelovelove. I actually read the Seven Pillars of Wisdom after first seeing that movie. Obsess much? Why yes. :)
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