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Infamous
R4 - Australia - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak/Shane Roberts (16th February 2008). |
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The Film
 In November 1959 top selling novelist and New York Times writer Truman Capote (Toby Jones) hears of the brutal murders of all four members of the Cutter family in their Holcomb, Kansas farmhouse. Deciding his next book will centre on the effects the murders have on the small town community he, accompanied by friend and fellow novelist Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock), travels to Holcomb to record the feelings of the hesitant and untrusting locals. When the killers are caught and he attempts to include their perspective as well he becomes involved in an unusual relationship with Perry Smith (Daniel Craig), one of the accused. There have been multiple examples in the last 15-20 years of two films being released within a year of each other with virtually the same subject and/or main character; "Robin Hood" and "Robin Hood Price of Thieves" in 1991, "Tombstone" and "Wyatt Earp" in 1993/94 and "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" in 1998 among the list. I can't however think of an instance of two that have featured exactly the same events and small group of characters as "Capote" and "Infamous". With each film based on a different book, "Capote" on Gerald Clarke's 1988 biography of the same name and "Infamous" on George Plimpton's "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances And Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career" released in 1997, there are differences in opinion and viewpoints. "Infamous" includes interview style clips with quotes from Truman's inner circle which copies the structure of Plimpton's book and provides insight into his complex personality : it also helps paint a much kinder picture of him than "Capote" does, even though he is still a selfish and quite unlikable person for large parts of the film. His relationship with Perry Smith is shown as a lot less self serving and more sincere here as he has conflicting feelings between wanting his book to have a great ending and be a success, and not wanting to lose Smith to a death sentence. While Phillip Seymour Hoffman won multiple awards including an Oscar for his portrayal, Toby Jones is just as impressive and could have easily done the same had his film been released first and not suffered from comparison. There are also standout performances by Daniel Craig as the killer who slowly gains our sympathy and surprisingly Sandra Bullock as his tough and forthright friend Harper Lee. Apart from an impressive but small role in "Crash" (2004) she's been mainly known for lightweight romantic comedies. Comparing this film to "Capote" is inevitable. It's pleasing to say however that there are very few negatives because both films are extremely well made and acted and although director Douglas McGrath's "Infamous" was released second it never feels unoriginal or repetitive. It's a witty, engrossing and heart-wrenching drama that I highly recommend.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.78:1 this anamorphic transfer is passable but lacking in many areas. Sometimes you can never quite tell how a transfer is going to turn out, usually when it comes to a recent release you'd expect the image transfer to be as good as the DVD format allows. But then you pop in a disc like "Infamous" and you're completely taken aback at how much room for improvement there is. To begin with I found the image soft and some detail was lost especially in backgrounds. This is painfully clear in dimly lit or night time scenes. Colors also appear muted and murky, I'm guessing that for the most part this was intentional but it doesn't explain why the blacks suffer. At least the image is clean and free or dirt and specks, but the image should look sharper considering the date of production. I also spotted some compression artefacts (which is surprising considering the disc is void of any extras and the film has virtually the entire dual-layered disc to its advantage).
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is all that Warner's has afforded for this release. Warner's seemed to have dropped the ball not only on the image side of things but also in the sound department. The US region 1 release (also from Warner Brothers) has a 5.1 soundtrack yet this release is stuck with an inferior stereo track. Since when did company drop a 5.1 mix in favor of a lesser mix? While the dialogue was clear, music was well rendered the track as expected lacked depth and range. The film engrosses you in it's story and characters and the soundtrack should aid in that impressiveness, and that's exactly what a 5.1 track would have done. The film does not include any optional subtitles.
Extras
Warner Brothers has released this film pretty much void of any extras apart from a bonus trailer for "La Vie En Rose" which runs for 50 seconds and plays prior to the main menu. The region 1 release has an audio commentary and why that wasn't ported over for this release is baffling.
Overall
The film has been reviewed by Shane Roberts, technical specs and extras have been reviewed by Noor Razzak. Copyright © 2008 Noor Razzak/Shane Roberts
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