November 06, 2005

Capote

I saw Capote at the Egyptian last night with Brian. Philip Seymour Hoffman = brilliance. As Ebert writes, "Philip Seymour Hoffman doesn't so much imitate Truman Capote as channel him in his starring role in Capote."

I know this actor from Happiness and Magnolia. According to imdb he was also in The Big Lebowski, Almost Famous, Red Dragon and Leap of Faith, all of which I've seen, and a slew of films I haven't seen.

I don't know a thing about director Bennett Miller who was born the same year as Seymour, 1967.

I loved Seymour's acting and learing about Capote. I didn't even know he was an author before this movie, let alone the fact that he was the most famous author in America at one time. I also learned he was good friends with Harper Lee who wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, one of my favorite stories. I'm slightly embarrassed to write that I didn't realize Harper Lee was a woman until this movie.

The day on the whole was stressful but enriching. I took a 3-hour exam in the morning which I was not prepared for. I walked on campus and along The Ave for a couple hours since the exam was in Kane Hall and it was homecoming weekend. There was quite a bit of purple and gold about, but heavy rain put a damper on things. The movie was good but solemn. Afterward, Brian and I sat in my Mini for an hour and talked about our relationship...what went wrong, failings on both our parts, reasons why it didn't work and red flags that we both ignored. For my part, there was a lot of healing involved and I hope we are able to have more of these conversations even though they are painful. I'm so grateful we can still be friends.