Despite the film’s title, the tapes—newfound interviews with Truman Capote’s former friends—have surprisingly little to do with the documentary. They supplement the film, but it is just as reliant on known information and current interviews with even more friends and family. That’s not to say it’s a bad film; in fact, The Capote Tapes is a welcome invitation to rediscover who Truman Capote was in all his complicated genius. The film celebrates his journalistic genius while questioning his methods. It dives into his childhood past to explain his obsession with glamor. But perhaps more interesting than all that are the gaps in Truman’s history, which the film only brings up but never resolves. Where, for instance, are the missing chapters of his last manuscript Answered Prayers, the piece that effectively severed him from his High Society friends and tore his reputation to shreds? While the film doesn’t answer that crucial mystery, it’s entertaining and informative nonetheless.

The great thing about writers talking about other writers is getting to hear the colorful words they have for each other. Unforgettable descriptors of Capote in the film include “candied tarantula” and, from Norman Mailer, “beautiful f***** prince.”