Saturday, December 31, 2005
The Two Trumans
On Monday my Mom and I were dazzled by Philip Seymour Hoffman (the gentleman on the right) performing as Truman Capote (the fellow on the left), in the film "Capote," on the first of two pilgrimmages to upscale Scotsdale to see artsy movies. (The following day we returned, with my sister Deena, to see "Brokeback Mountain," which moved me to tears for the third time in two weeks...) Hoffman, long recognized as a brilliant actor, reached a new career peak by capturing this complex personnage, whose effeminate mannerisms and langorous southern pace masked guile and ambition as cold-blooded as the novel that made him famous. I was but a toddler with Capote achieved the heights of glory with 'In Cold Blood,' and by my teen years he was a caricature of a celebrity party person, a regular at Studio 54 with Liza, Rod, Mick, and Margaret (Trudeau, the first lady of Canada, whose New York partying binges with her pal Mick Jagger were that country's biggest embarrassment of that period). I hadn't realized that after the mid-60s publication of 'In Cold Blood', Capote never completed another novel. However, his editorial house did publish his last work, an incomplete novel called 'answered prayers,' which I did read and is gossipy, semi-autobiographical, and self-indulgent. I read it in French.So, it's going to be a very close race for Best Actor Oscar between Hoffman's Capote and Heath Ledger's astounding turn as repressed gay ranch hand Ennis del Mar in 'Brokeback Mountain.'
Tonight is New Year's Eve. I'm making dinner for my family to ring in the New Year. Monday I'm headed to San Francisco to hang with my friend Carolyn for a day, and Tuesday I fly back to New York..
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