Truman Capote is certainly receiving his time in the limelight recently. Last year, Capote won Philip Seymour Hoffman an Oscar, and now along comes Infamous, another look at the same subject but with a different slant.

It's not surprising there were two movies filmed at the same time about Capote. He was, after all,  larger than life -- a gay man at the top of the New York social circle who became obsessed with murders in a Kansas farmhouse, then wrote a book about the event that changed his life. That's pure drama waiting for the big screen. Infamous director and writer Douglas McGrath presented his script at about the same time as Capote was making the rounds. Warner Independent saw possibilities in the script and agreed to release it after the dust settled from Capote.

Capote director Bennett Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman created a captivating story of how Capote came to write In Cold Blood. The movie received five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and took home one. I couldn't image how Infamous could compare to this acclaimed film, but I found it equally interesting.

Infamous, set in 1959, is based on the book Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career, by George Plimpton. The mood for the movie is set during the opening scene as Truman and his good friend Babe (Sigourney Weaver) are being entertained at a posh New York nightclub by Peggy Lee (Gwyneth Paltrow). She's singing “This Thing Called Love,” and at one point -- overcome by a personal reaction -- she pauses, and then continues. Truman Capote explores that song title throughout this movie as his love for life, flair, people and eventually murderer Perry Smith (Daniel Craig) takes him on a journey he never expected.

After Capote (Toby Jones) reads a newspaper article about the two men who killed an entire family in Kansas, he banters about a book idea with his social circle -- socialite Slim Keith (Hope Davis), Vogue editor Diana Vreeland (Juliet Stevenson) or his close friend Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock). Capote convinces Harper to go with him to check out the story, and one of the most telling scenes about Capote unfolds as they arrive in Holcomb, Kansas. A train departs leaving Truman and Harper standing on a wooden platform and surrounded by nothing but weeds. No station, no cars, no people. Harper has two normal-sized suitcases, while Capote is dwarfed by three or four large steamer trunks, a telling visual illustrating how much clothes mean to this man.

Capote receives the cold shoulder from Sheriff Alvin Dewey (Jeff Daniels), who wants nothing to do with the big city intruders and refuses to provide Capote a look at the Clutter family files. He and Harper flit around town, Capote appearing in fashionable shawls and mink-collared coats.  As he drops names about his affiliations with Hollywood stars, town residents are drawn to the unusual man with the strange voice who is as bright and entertaining as anything they have ever seen.

Alvin Dewey's wife, Marie (Bethlyn Gerard) invites Capote and Harper over for Thanksgiving dinner and soon everyone in town wants the New Yorkers at their dinner table. This entrée into the township begins a discourse of facts about the Cutters and what happened, which allows Capote to start his book. He's soon permitted to enter the prison and eventually Perry Smith's cell. Dick Hickock, the other murderer, talks briefly with Capote but they don’t form a bond like the writer does with Perry.

While both Capote and Infamous center on the story of Capote writing his book In Cold Blood, the films have different tones and focuses. With Hoffman's understated and astonishing performance, his film was more about the crime and how it came to undermine Capote. Infamous focuses more on Capote himself. We see his lavish life through the eyes of his friends in interviews including those above as well as his partner Jack Dunphy (John Benjamin Hickey), Gore Vidal (Michael Panes), Bennett Cerf (Peter Bogdanovich) and Neapolitan princess Marella Agnelli (Isabella Rossellini).

English actor Toby Jones (Mrs. Henderson Presents) offers an impressive performance as Capote, one that reflects more of the real author in all his flamboyance. We also see his vulnerability as well in scenes where he's enthralled with Perry Smith. McGrath cleverly has Capote quote to his friends something Smith said to him, but then it's revealed what Smith really said, and the two don't match. Obviously Capote was so obsessed with his and Smith's similar backgrounds and dark secrets that he assumed Smith was as drawn to him as he was to Smith.

Daniel Craig also does a great job in his portrayal of the psychopath who probably found spending time with Capote far more interesting than starring at brick walls all day. Sandra Bullock is surprisingly good as Harper Lee, presenting a far more appealing personality of the famous author than Catherine Keener did in Capote.

Infamous is a good drama/character study that’s heightened by terrific performances.  

(Released by Warner Independent and rated “R” for language, violence and some sexuality.)

Read Diana Saenger’s reviews of classic films at http://classicfilm.about.com.