Have online dictionary, will travel
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

31 Days of October, Day 30

10/30/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Well, hey. Here we are, the day before Halloween. And now we'll talk about one of my favorite True Crime novels--In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. If you've never read the novel, you absolutely should. It's stunning and creepy and the first of its kind in the sense that it blends fact with fiction and focuses exclusively upon actual events while doing the impossible--delving into the minds of those who were present. (If you don't count Moby Dick, that is.) It centers around the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. I won't go into details. I'll leave it for you to explore. In any case, this is another set of films you should see back to back. The first is the movie, In Cold Blood (1967.)
I can't help being attracted to the utter obliteration of an era's (1950s) smarmy self-satisfaction. It's Capote's absolute determination to make America stare into the mirror and stop denying the truth--that all is not as wholesome and perfect as America imagines, that there is a dark undercurrent of abuse and oppression, and that its happiness is built upon the misery of people it refuses to see. At the same time, I can't help feeling the whole situation is an author's nightmare. To demonstrate why, I give you the next film, Capote (2001.)
Philip Seymour Hoffman, bats and ghouls. Fucking Philip Seymour Hoffman. He's totally brilliant in this movie. And the whole piece illustrates the thin ethical line an author can tread when they pursue the truth of horrific events. At least, that's my experience while writing about The Troubles, and perhaps that's why this film hit me so hard. Anyway, it's an amazing movie depicting the dark side of humanity. IMHO, it does a far better job of portraying an author's nightmare than any Stephen King novel, including Misery because it demonstrates that the monster could be you. That moment when Capote says, "When I think of how good my book could be, I can hardly breathe." is spot on. Dreams have edges, y'all, and sometimes they cut.

The last movie I'll list is older, related, and is far less known. It's called Flesh and Bone (1993.)
It's a fiction, this version, but it's well-done, and the dialog between Dennis Quaid and James Caan is downright chilling--particularly James Caan. You can see the pain in Quaid's face as he struggles with the weight of his childhood. The same with Meg Ryan. Both are doing their best to be good people in spite of the terrible things in their lives. Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, is brutal in her efforts to survive all the things that Quaid has walked away from. All in all, it's an under-rated movie, and I recommend it.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Stina Leicht

    is a Science Fiction and Fantasy author living in Texas.

    This blog is updated infrequently. Follow me on Twitter for announcements of new posts over on Patreon. Thanks for reading!

    -----------
    Schedule
    Currently nothing is planned.

    ​
    Novels:
    Loki's Ring
    ​Persephone Station 
    Cold Iron 
    Blackthorne 
    Of Blood and Honey 
    And Blue Skies from Pain

    Short Stories:
    Forgiveness is Warm Like a Tear on a Cheek (Evil in Technicolor)
    A Siren's Cry is a Song of Sorrow (September, Apex Magazine)
    Second Verse, Same as the First 
    Last Drink Bird Head
    Texas Died for Somebody's Sins But Not Mine
    -----------
    Like my content?

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2021
    December 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    June 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact