In Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman -- currently one of the most flexible character actors around -- sinks his teeth into the kind of part easily deemed as “career best”. Portraying Truman Capote, one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, Hoffman’s ability to sustain the character’s mannerisms and eccentricities -- notably his notoriously effete, high-pitched voice -- with simmering intensity is nothing short of impressive. Admittedly, it takes a while to get used to, but Hoffman’s tour de force to making it all seem invisible once the character deepens. Biopics of authors are difficult -- the writing process can be a challenging thing to portray cinematically -- but Capote juggles elements of biography, crime and journalism into a completely absorbing and assured film. The film draws its focus on the creation of Capote’s chilling, ground-breaking work of non-fiction In Cold Blood, one of the best true crime novels ever written, about the brutal 1959 slaying of the Clutter family in Kansas by Richard Hickock and Perry Smith. The book was made into Richard Brooks’ superlative 1966 film starring Robert Blake and Scott Wilson, and in some ways, Bennett Miller’s Capote feels like a remake, with the key difference of casting the author into the events. While Hoffman’s stellar portrayal guides the film, delivering both a repellent and undeniably fascinating character to watch, the film features understated, perfectly etched supporting turns from the entire cast. In his first feature, Miller directs with fitting detachment and restraint, shooting in cool, muted tones and managing to induce chills from the pathology of his subject.