Here is the film that sank. One of two concurrent projects to explore events that inspired Truman Capote’s revolutionary non-fiction account of a slain family, Infamous suffers from Capote’s Oscar nominated fame. In many regards, there is little to distinguish the two - they both travel the same narrative arc to land at much the same place. They cover the same time period, and introduce the same characters who behave much the same way. In most regards, Infamous arrives not so much as a new film but as a re-mix of the other.

The point of difference is director Douglas McGrath’s disdain for the coy recognition of Truman Capote’s sexuality. In Capote it was acknowledged on-screen through his relationship with Jack Dunphy, found lurking in Hoffman’s calculated performance then left to off-screen imagination. Infamous leaves no doubt about the relationship between Capote and his lover, or Capote and the killer Perry Smith (a pre-Bond Daniel Craig), the subject of his book In Cold Blood. One of the film’s most striking scenes is an on-camera snog between the two.

McGrath brought together a stellar cast that includes a confident, cardigan wearing Sandra Bullock as Capote’s confidant Harper Lee, Isabella Rosselini as socialite Marella Agnelli, Gywneth Paltrow as chanteuse Kitty Dean and an efficient Jeff Daniels as the local police chief. There are no weak links in this robust, if conventional, production, from performances through direction to design. To put some space between the two, Infamous was held back from local release for well over a year, yet time has not been kind. Watching this good film only reminds one how great the other was.

// COLIN FRASER