On the first Monday of May, the Met Gala (the Metropolitan Museum of Art Charity Ball), known as the "Oscars of the fashion industry" and "the cash machine of the Metropolitan Museum of Art", is here again.
This can not help but reminiscent of the Black and White Ball (Black and White Ball), which was known as the "Party of the Century", and its host, the "Golden Boy of American Literature" in his heart - Truman Capote (Truman Capote). ). Of course, liking Capote is definitely not a hobby worthy of self-proclaimed elegance, but if you can read it when you are young, it may open a door for you to be sensitive, loose and delicate in your life.
On November 28, 1966, the Black and White Ball was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, a famous landmark in the United States. It was ostensibly a Capote for the Pulitzer Prize winner and later led the Washington Post to expose Watergate. The event's Katharine Graham (Katharine Graham) had a fun party, but everyone knows that's not the case.
Capote, who had just made a fortune with his novel "In Cold Blood," allegedly wanted a "spectacular gift" to celebrate. But if you express this desire directly, it will inevitably appear a little arrogant, so Katharine Graham, who is very famous, shy by nature, and has suffered a family upheaval, has become the best bunker.
The first time I knew about Black and White Ball came from a photo of the person on it strictly following the dress code: men must wear black ties and black masks; women can wear black or white dresses, white masks, and fans. . It is said that the inspiration came from a horse race in the movie My Fair Lady (1964).
Celebrities, artists, writers, actors...even the local sheriff Alvin Dewey (Alvin Dewey) he met while he was doing field research for "Cold Blood" was not invited by the elite group of New York social circles , is Capote's closest friend.
With the media turned off, the night was even more mysterious and thought-provoking: the Versailles ball with Marie Antoinette, the Venetian masquerade of Carlos de Beistegui in 1951 What does a comparable social gathering look like?
Wanting to find the video data of the infield is basically equivalent to the Arabian Nights, it is more practical to go back to the film and television works about Capote himself to find clues. For example, the two films that describe Capote before and after the creation of "In Cold Blood" - "Capote (2005)" and "Notorious (2006)". We can see some of the motivations for Capote's Black and White Ball in these two similar stories.
Watching these two films together is a special experience because you see how stark the difference in ability can be from director to director. As we all know, "Capote" not only has a director Bennett Miller (Benett Miller) who is good at shooting biopics, but also the late famous actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (Philip Seymour Hoffman). the throne.
And "Notorious", which was released a year later than "Capote", is like an outcast, and the reason for the mediocre response is that except for the crash of the theme, it is not bad to blame the director's level of handling such content. No - although the latter's director Douglas McGrath (Douglas McGrath) and Woody Allen (Woody Allen) worked closely together, and also wrote and directed it.
At the beginning of "Notorious", Capote moved out of a group of "New York social elite" friends, such as legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland (Diana Freeland), socialite Babe Paley (Babe Paley) and publishing industry Giant Bennett Cerf (Bennett Cerf). The trendsetters of these times (and the actors who play them, of course) come face-to-face, with occasional episodes of Capote gossiping between them like a little sparrow. Sound familiar? I don't know if you mean it: Xu Anhua used a similar approach in her biography of the writer, The Golden Age (2014).
Pulling out such a long list of Capote's friends may make some people very excited, but it only shows that the creative team has put a lot of effort into data collection. Whether the archetypes of these events can provide effective support for the story that the film is to present is another matter.
Because "Infamous" is an ambitious attempt to present a nostalgic silhouette of yesterday's good times by focusing on Capote's life, focusing on Capote's experience before and after writing "In Cold Blood", and involving many big names in contemporary American culture. —Yes, the problem lies in the perception of "beautiful".
Whether it's "Capote" or "Notorious", or even the novel "In Cold Blood" itself, a horrific massacre is a major focus of the story: in 1959, Holcomb, Kansas, USA, a The beloved rich peasants were brutally killed, men, women and children. And Capote's tortuous experience in the investigation process has also attracted curious attention from the outside world, as well as dramatic interpretations.
Why tortuous? "Notorious" takes a long time to describe, from contacting the District Attorney's Office before Capote set off, to winning the love of the locals, to developing "youda" with Perry Smith, one of the murderers of the kulak. The above, the lover is not full" emotional relationship, and finally return to the original life...
Interestingly, when you watch "Capote", you will find that in the first half hour of the film, the murderer has been arrested and Capote is preparing to enter the prison to start a dialogue with him; the other side of "Infamous" is still in Capote. A stage where celebrity gossip is exchanged for the trust of the local community. It can be seen that the latter has no details, and basically conforms to the "Hero's journey" that has a profound impact on American movies.
You might have trouble connecting this mythological "formula" that George Lucas has publicly dubbed the Star Wars franchise with Capote. But the fact is that in the first half of "Infamous", the lavish New York social circle can be seen as the "hero" Capote's native world - this is the environment he is familiar with, can feel safe, and has both sides; The prejudice and difficult Kansas, he is completely unfamiliar with the dangerous "different world".
From the original world to the "other world" and back to the original world, our "hero" needs to experience different key events. Check out what Capote did in Infamous:
1. Being summoned (learned about the tragedy, inspired to write a new book); 2. Meeting a partner who offered assistance (accompanied by Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird); 3. Between safety and adventure Difficult choices (suggestions from lovers and publishers); 4. Tests (the prosecution's uncooperative eyes, strange eyes from the community); 5. The ultimate challenge (to get more truth out of the murderer's mouth); 6. Crisis (repeated by this The appeal of the case torture); 7. The treasure after the crisis is resolved (the case is coming to an end); 8. The ending (the success of the new book and Perry's love)... Next, it is Capote's return to the original circle and a new life.
In Phases 4 and 5, Infamous portrays Capote as a big man who uses his privacy to get his way. Although in the "Celebrity Exhibition" at the beginning, all friends have expressed their distrust of him, but the various figures related to the murder, such as Sheriff Dewey, and Perry, who is a criminal, are oversimplified to be able to be used by some celebrities. Is the image positioning that gossip is easily moved by too much? But it must be admitted that this does achieve another goal - to recreate a star-studded era.
In contrast, Capote went through much the same journey, but director Bennett Miller made him spend more time in the native world. At the same time, the tone of the whole film is more gloomy and hopeless, and it does not overly portray the above-mentioned stages 4 and 5 with exposed passion, nor does it dramatize the same-sex friendship between Capote and Perry, and more Much of the focus is on Capote seeking a dialogue with himself from his attitude towards the entire case.
The reason is simple, Capote really isn't much of a "hero" in this investigation.
"We're not looking for inside information. I don't care if you can catch the killer. I'm going to write a manuscript describing the impact of the Clatt murders on the whole town and how everyone feels about it."
"I care."
This is the description of a conversation between Capote and Sheriff Dewey at the beginning of Capote.
"So Jack (Jack Dunphy, Capote's love interest at the time) thought I was taking advantage of Perry, but he also thought I was in love with Perry in Kansas City."
This is a testimonial from Capote when he left Kansas for a vacation.
"Capote" first uncovered the seemingly inhuman side of Capote's character, and then made him aware of it. But Bennett Miller seemed to think it could add a little more intensity, and set up a suffocating scene—more than happy to call the movie's "dead minute":
In the backstage of the "Cold Blood" new book reading meeting, Capote and the guests around him joked about "cracked crotch". A strange man leaned on the toilet and smiled reluctantly. Then he thought about it and said something Saying, "What you described about those people was horrific... terrifying." And Capote smiled, as if complimented, and thanked.
At this moment, the director officially pits the "unkind" Capote against the "compassionate common man".
Equal-life film critic David Thomson once wrote a review of "Notorious" for The Independent, arguing that Capote's portrayal of Capote was too grim and dismissed. Criticism is worthless, but it is difficult for people to empathize with it, so it is not as vivid as the portrayal of its moral flaws in "The Voice".
actually not. It's not that Daniel Craig (Daniel Craig), who is as strong as a Spartan warrior, will play Perry, and he will carry Capote, who is shivering like a kitten in front of him, to make a confession of "a bully criminal fell in love with me" , or to make Capote run away in tears during the rainy day Perry was executed, to highlight his human weakness (Infamous's extensive portrayal of the emotional development between Capote and Perry is Thomson's argument).
"Capote" handles the relationship between the two more "advanced", imagine the prison version of "One Thousand and One Nights": Capote contacts two criminals, including Perry, to collect material for the new book , so the story needs to be dug out of their mouths. Therefore, he found various relationships for the two and repeatedly appealed for them to continue their lives. Capote, in turn, was the last straw, the last friend, for Perry and another criminal.
One side wants a story, the other side wants to live. The king is still the same king, but the daughter of the prime minister who sacrificed himself for justice has become a useful murderer.
What is the ending of "One Thousand and One Nights"? The tyrannical king fell in love with the kind-hearted prime minister's daughter, put down the butcher's knife, and lived happily ever after. Not just these two movies, but some interviews in reality show that the real Capote once admitted that he had some kind of affection for Perry.
It's just that with the execution of the death sentence, Capote needs to get out of the love bubble in front of him, and he did it, and prepared a grand Black and White Ball for himself. Go back to the "Party Animal" position. On the surface, he talked and laughed: "I have been immersed in "Cold Blood" for nearly 6 years, and I have neglected my friends in Manhattan for too long, and I need to return." But perhaps the real cause is that he not only experienced a relationship that was doomed to no results, He also faced the weaknesses of his own humanity more or less.
Just like the great loss after the effect of hallucinogens, he needs to be resolved, and he needs a lot of people to surround him and talk to him.
"Infamous" emphasizes the good old days too much from the beginning to the end, as if the sideburns have never been far from Capote's side, but the calm and fragile brushwork in "Capote" makes people believe that Black and White Ball is not only for the recent The widowed Katharine Graham, whom Capote wrote to mourn some ethereal feelings in the midst of great success.
View more about Capote reviews
