So yesterday I wrote this little ditty about the Gotham Awards and I suppose, to some degree, I questioned their credibility. Today, after reading about the winners (via indieWIRE), I can’t help but question it further. Capote as Best Feature? Are they kidding? Capote is not a great movie. It’s a great performance — several, in fact, but really Philip Seymour Hoffman’s is the only one that matters. The script is average and the direction is at best competent, but never really interesting.
I haven’t seen either Keane or Brokeback Mountain yet, but I’ve heard amazing things about both. I wasn’t one of the many fawning over Me and You and Everyone You Know, but as an overall film, it was slightly stronger than Capote. Meanwhile, A History of Violence is hands down one of the best films of the year, certainly much stronger and bursting with more creativity than Capote. Oh right — and Capote director Bennett Miller won the “Breakthrough Director” award. You’ve got to be absolutely kidding me. If he gets a lesser performance out of his lead actor, this film is an utter failure and a bore. It’s main flaw was in its direction.
I never said Capote was a bad film — it’s not. But neither is it a great one. Certainly not great like the one which justifiably took home the Best Ensemble Cast award but wasn’t even nominated for Best Feature: The Squid and the Whale. No wonder I forgot about the Gothams originally. Apparently, their pointless.
Out of Focus 