Capote & the New York Doll

New York Doll

Bottom line: A good rocumentary. The director had incredible luck as he starts shooting a movie about ex-New York Dolls bassist, Arthur Kane, and hits the jackpot as a call comes in from Morrissey (ex-Smiths) who's putting together the line-up for London based music festival Meltdown in 2004. His all time favorite band is the New York Dolls, and he'd like what's left of them to reunite for the festival. The rest is history, and in case you don't already know, I won't ruin the ending for you.

It's an incredibly bittersweet story...Arthur is obviously a little fried from his past life as a 70's glam icon but he's still coherent enough to be interesting. His mentors in the Mormon church are extremely supportive of him, and are surprisingly knowledgable about his past. They also come across with a complete lack of judgement...all they really seem to want is for Arthur to follow his heart and pursue his dreams. Very touching stuff.

The director also did an amazing job of keeping the focus on Arthur when it could've easily strayed into a history lesson about the Dolls. One of my favorite scenes was with the whole band just prior to taking the stage in London for the Meltdown Festival (their first gig as the New York Dolls in 29 years!). The whole band is led in prayer by Arthur...ironic and touching at the same time.

As one of the co-producers was the Sundance channel, something tells me it won't be too long until this airs there. Keep your eyes on the listings if you have Sundance.




Capote

Wow...this is some film. If you're looking for a bio about Capote this isn't the film to see (I don't think it's been made yet). If you're looking for a snapshot of a fascinating time in American history (to me anyway), and the life of a famous writer about to catapult to mega-fame by changing American literature, then this is definitely the movie to see. It definitely helps if you've seen the In Cold Blood movie, or read the book.

Probably one of the most emotionally complex movies I've ever seen, I'd be hard pressed to put all of my thoughts down here...but this is a good one for discussion groups. The relationship between Capote and the two killers is portrayed in a way that could only come from a story based on real life events.

Apart from the acting, script, etc, one of my favorite moments is a party scene where John Coltrane's "Say It (Over & Over Again)" from his Ballads album comes spilling out of the theater sound system. What a beautiful unexpected sound...I'm not sure if I've ever heard Coltrane used in a movie soundtrack before, but it's about time.

I may go see this one again...Astounding...