Capote

Frankly, we’re sick and tired of biopics (Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash? Pshaw!), but this one promises to be a breed apart–as much about the making of an American masterpiece as it is a bio of its author, Truman Capote. He and his childhood friend, the novelist Harper Lee, seemed like an unlikely duo to set up camp in Holcomb, Kansas, and research the brutal murders of a local family for what was to become In Cold Blood. Things grew stranger still when Capote unexpectedly developed a deep friendship with one of the killers, Perry Smith. Both men had tragic childhoods, and Capote saw Perry’s life as one he could easily have lived. Although the twee socialite partied with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and basked in his own celebrity, his past deeply haunted him, and this film explores the personal turmoil and societal changes uncovered as he wrote his groundbreaking “nonfiction novel.” 612-825-6006; www.landmarktheatres.com