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Infamous (2006) DVD Review
Infamous (2006) DVD Credits:
Infamous (2006) Directed by:
Douglas McGrath
Infamous (2006) Written by:
Douglas McGrath
Infamous (2006) Cast:
Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Peter Bogdonovich, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isabella Rossellini, Juliet Stevenson, Sigourney Weaver
Infamous (2006) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
Infamous (2006) DVD Release Date:
13th February 2007
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

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Infamous (2006) Synopsis:

What starts out as the humorous journey of the openly gay writer Truman Capote to the middle-class world of 1950's Kansas, where he goes to research the murder of the Clutter family, turns to something altogether darker when Capote forms an intense relationship with one of the murderers. In doing so, he produced his greatest work, "In Cold Blood," but at a devastating personal cost.

Infamous (2006) DVD Review:

After Capote everyone seems confused that Infamous has come out as well. Do we really need another film about the same events? Even when you hear the circumstances that brought the film to screen, one has to question how important it was to tell the same story so soon after it had already been told. Both are well made and slightly unnecessary. What they do both show is how ultimately unlikable and unsympathetically selfish a man Truman Capote often appeared to be while writing In Cold Blood. He manipulates, lies, and even seduces the perfect book out of the seemingly random and brutal slaying of a local family in a small Kansas town. First it is the dead who are exploited as Truman explores the murder scene with no concern for the killers or if they are caught, but once they are caught he does what he needs to in order to get his story, pained by the thought that they won’t be given the death penalty and that their living would ruin the end of his book. Although it is the voice of Truman which is shown to be unbearable, it is only in his whiny self absorption I began to feel nauseated by while watching yet another film dedicated to the creation of his brilliant yet often questionably moral non-fiction book.

After the brutal killings in Kansas, Truman and his friend Nelle Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock) take a trip to investigate. Truman begins to work his way into the community to find out how a murder taking place affects the community, but in the end his focus is on the men who did the killing. He begins to write a book and visit the killers in jail, but ultimately the time it took for them to die was the time it took for him to finish his book.

One thing that Infamous does well is the use of a much more sympathetic author and friend Nelle Harper Lee. While by the end of the film Capote has descended into reality some, it is the voice of Lee which brings some sense of order restored. Sandra Bullock eases simply into the role and is so much more likable that I began to wish the film were about the author of To Kill a Mockingbird instead. Daniel Craig does an admirable job as a cold-blooded killer, but he looks forced into the role with his dyed black hair parted so uncomfortably the whole film. There is another large difference in this film which makes it a great deal lighter, and that is the faux interviews with the characters as they describe their experiences. This provides narrative along the film and a great deal of humor as well.

The DVD has a commentary track with screenwriter/director Douglas McGrath, who will woo you into liking his version as you watch the film. There is also a theatrical trailer.

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Infamous (2006) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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