Beat

The bulk of the film takes place in Mexico City with side-trips to more remote areas. The scenery outside the City is lush and lovely. The interactions among the actors reflect these locales. I found the film extremely watchable, and was fascinated with the performances. All the lead roles are clearly developed. I loved Courtney Love. She is as beautiful as a modern day Anna Magnani and never has a bad scene. Seeing Kiefer Sutherland in something so unlike his "24" role is a delight. Ron Livingston's performance is controlled and finely honed. Norman Reedus presents raw energy. The cinematography is excellent with wondrous scenes of light and color. One can almost smell the tropical foliage. This is decidedly Courtney Love's movie, since she plays Burroughs' tragic wife. The interactions of these characters, based on real-life people during that time period, is a mesmerizing glimpse into lives in emotional turmoil.

I enjoyed this film, the actors being excellent & NORMAN REEDUS a talent I had not previously had the luck to experience. Courtney Love & Keifer Sutherland are spot on as the duelling couple. Ron Livingston's part as Ginsberg is brief yet assured, & the dialogue is crackling. I bought this for £1 in Sainsburys whilst doing the shopping. It's one of my best DVD buys, actually. It's certainly an ambitious film, yet it works.

The scenes are the right length & the director never gets consumed with his subject- this could easily have been an obsessive project. All in all, a worthy look at the moment when Burroughs became a writer.

Beat was quite possibly one of the most disappointing ventures I've yet encountered. Seeing it on the shelves at Hollywood Video, I promptly put down my other options and grabbed it up. It's rare that a movie about the Beats comes around, and this dharma bum wasn't about to pass it up...much to my chagrin. The movie first and foremost is just downright boring. (I guess I should take this opportunity now to say that I'm a huge student of the Beat Generation. Burroughs and Kerouac are two of my biggest influences in both poetry and prose.) The acting was lackluster with the exceptions of Kilmer's Burroughs and Livingston's Ginsberg (both were bloody perfect). I can't help but feel that Beat was beaten to death in the editing room. There was potential for a great script here, but it was the creative fecal matter of Gary "The Trouble with Dick" Walkow.

One final complaint that has nothing really to do seriously with the film: Would it be too much to ask for Gary to squeeze in more than 0.1 seconds of Jack?

More motivated by the recreation of the beat generation than by the film acting and production, I was gladly surprised by the respectful treatment of Mexico in this movie: the staging without trials of a country plagued by centuries of poverty, in the 50s, has in addition a careful photography and stunning natural scenarios in which the plot remains unalterable, professional and carefully conducted.

The outstanding performance of Courtney Love, personifying Joan Burroughs, is enhanced by her proverbial beauty in a performance that well deserves to be considered an icon in contemporary cinema. Courtney's big close ups emphasizing "I dare you" can take your breath away. Norman Reedus, in the role of Lucien Carr, gives a slight hint enacting his duties at UPI and clarifies his role in the beat movement. In the film cast Ron Livingston as Allen Ginsberg gives the picture of the introspective young adult he was. Kiefer Sutherland, as William Burroughs, has better lines than acting… yet, his presence is a must.

Finding Mexican actor Luis Felipe Tovar was a surprise. With his eloquent Mexican touch, he embodies a federal policeman in a Michoacan state country road. Memorable. His click on the words in Spanish is his natural; Tovar is definitely a character in alternative Mexican cinema.

The abuse of amphetamine "Benzedrine" and homosexuality are seen on screen without judgments and are merely descriptive elements of the narrative construction, as befits the vision of Gary Walkow, Beat's director.

Highly recommended.

Look I think William Burroughs was one of the most important figures in not only post-War literature, but in pop culture generally. His work and ideas, and those of the other Beats, have had enormous repercussions on all kinds of arts, and have directly or indirectly affected many of our lives whether we know it or not. Burroughs life was almost as fascinating as his work, but you wouldn't know it from watching 'Beat', as it manages to condense some fascinatingly uncliched relationships into a soap-like love triangle.

I was suprised at the casting of Kiefer Sutherland at first. He isn't an obvious choice to play Burroughs, but he tries hard to humanise him. Unfortunately the thin script doesn't give him much to go on. Likewise Ron Livingston (best known for 'Office Space') does fairly well as Allen Ginsberg, but the script doesn't convince with it's simplistic, almost stereotypical drawing of a complex figure. Lastly, Courtney Love is fine as Burroughs second wife Joan Vollmer, but once again the writing simplifies a multi-layered person into an easy to grasp "character".

It speaks volumes that Cronenberg's surreal 'Naked Lunch' manages to give a much richer and more convincing depiction of these tragic events than the more "realistic" 'Beat'. Perhaps the only way to really deal with the Beats on screen is to aim closer to the approach of their own poetry and prose. The definitive movie portrayal of Burroughs, Ginsberg and co has yet to made. I hope one does eventuate as it's a story that NEEDS to be told!