Kill Your Darlings

"Under the right circumstances even he might change the world." Columbia University in the 1940's unknowingly gave life to some of the best poets in the world. Alan Ginsberg (Radcliffe) shows up and is almost instantly dissatisfied with what he finds. The school is too straight laced as far as teaching goes. He meets future legends Lucien Carr (DeHaan), William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. What starts off as a group trying to change the world spirals out of control until a murder changes the lives of all of them. I have never been "hip" or into the beat poet scene. Never been a fan of Kerouac or even a big fan of Hunter S. Thompson for that matter. Not really sure why but they just never appealed to me. I watched On The Road but wasn't that impressed so I wasn't all that excited about watching this one. I do have to admit that this was much better then I expected. This one had a Dead Poet's Society aspect to it and I think that is why I ended up liking it. If you are a fan of the beat poet generation then you will love this. I liked how the character interactions grew to an explosive resolution, that was interesting to me. Overall, much better then On The Road, but this movie made me want to watch that one again now that I know more about the relationships. I give this a B.

The film would be enjoyed by fans of the Beat Generation's poets and homosexuals who take their birth rights seriously, or both. I am a homosexual and I did enjoy this one tremendously. Not in so many films that homosexuality serves only as an undertone, despite some visualized images of homosexual lovemaking. Absolute love of freedom becomes the overriding theme of this bunch of homosexual artists. I think this film will get all of us closer to a natural treatment of the third sex. Homosexuals would be equaled to heterosexuals when their "issue" ceases to be an issue for the public at large. The film is not trying to tell the whole story of these artists. Just a very thin slice was chosen to be told, and what a slice it was. My country, Thailand, is still stuck with the 18th Century superhuman theory of politics. All moral codes are determined by how much you love and glorify the king. Nothing else really matters. Even a murder is construed by law as being better than libeling the king, his family members, and his men. So I understand how it feels to be so free, and be met with ultra-conservatism at times. Madness can come as a result of being free, but the lack of it would drive you insane. Quite a different of psychological episodes. I encourage you to watch this film and do more research about these characters. You will end up knowing a lot more about yourself.

Typically, coming-of-age stories unfold in a predictable fashion: kid tentatively ventures into the world beyond the one he knows, where he encounters people and things that will change him and his outlook on life forever. It would be easy to dismiss Kill Your Darlings as yet another entry in a tired genre: the tale of a poet who finds his voice through a heady cocktail of sex, drugs and college. But John Krokidas' debut feature film, which takes as its subjects the American poets of the revolutionary Beat Generation, fits in so much more, as it explores a haunting search for life and legacy that teeters close to the edge of death.

Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) arrives at Columbia University keen to start a life away from the shadow of his famous dad, poet Louis Ginsberg (David Cross), and his mentally unstable mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh). He meets the electrifying Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), a rebel radiating so much charisma and ambition that it's easy to forget his lack of actual talent. Lucien brings together the aspiring artists who will soon come to change the literary world with their words: Allen, William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston). As their lives intersect, their destinies intertwine, tangled up in the form of David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), a man hopelessly caught in Lucien's enthralling spell.

Krokidas keeps this fascinating brew of hormones, hope and horror bubbling throughout, effectively nailing the champagne fizz of youth: a time when you could do ridiculous things, and remember them as romantic and revolutionary. Allen yearns, Jack drinks, William sucks nitrous oxide into his lungs in a bathtub, and Lucien keeps them all spinning. You don't have to know the Beat poets or their work to recognise the fire burning in these young men. Slicing and dicing pages of old classics, the boys make their manifesto quite literal: they will not rely on or succumb to tradition; their work will be conscribed by neither rhyme nor meter.

The most intriguing thing about Kill Your Darlings is that it refuses to romanticise this budding intellectual movement. The Beat poets may have become the idols of literary hipsters everywhere, but Krokidas takes care to tuck their ingenuity and creativity into the recognisable rhythms of everyday life. Desperate to hang onto Lucien's interest, Allen practically stumbles into his own talent. To create magic, he jerks off in front of his typewriter, or stupidly ties a noose around his neck to come a little closer to death. These young men, Krokidas seems to be saying, are treading a fine line between inspiration and tomfoolery. It's only when Allen recites a poem - on a moonlit night, on a stolen boat - that Lucien is comprehensively struck by his genius, as are we.

When the film spins into darker, more murderous territory, it moves from coming-of-age story to crime thriller - a genre shift that, oddly, works quite well within the universe established by Krokidas, as it allows Allen to contemplate the darker, less palatable side of Lucien's volatile personality. But it also becomes that much harder to separate the facts of these characters from Krokidas' fiction. David's tragic obsession with Lucien - one that the film suggests Allen could have shared - finally kicks off a tragic twist of events that unfold in a very particular way in Kill Your Darlings. Arguably, Allen ends up in an emotional place in the film that doesn't quite sit right with what actually transpired in real life, as told to us by a series of title cards just before the end credits.

Less controversial is the young cast, all of whom do first-rate work in disentangling the complex web of relationships that exists amongst these characters. Radcliffe is still a mite stiff as an actor, but this is his best on-screen performance yet: brave, bold, and proof that he's willing to challenge anyone's ideas of what he can do on screen. DeHaan is a firecracker as the capricious Lucien, burning so brightly that it's no wonder the other characters can't tear themselves away from him. Hall gets to sound a note of quiet desolation as David, whose infatuation isn't played simply as the unrequited lust of a madman. Only Elizabeth Olsen - as Jack's long-suffering girlfriend - is called upon to play a stereotype.

All in all, Kill Your Darlings marks an impressive debut for Krokidas. Shaken and stirred with a gloriously jazzy soundtrack and a colour palette that shifts from light to murky in a heartbeat, the film practically radiates tension both sexual and intellectual. It might have a little trouble with the facts of the matter, but, taken on its own merits, this is a smart, intoxicating look at how adolescent dreams must necessarily give way to the chilling bite of reality.

In 1942 Paterson, NJ Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) is trying to keep the peace between his cold poet father Louis (David Cross) and his unstable mother Naomi (Jennifer Jason Leigh). As a freshman in Columbia University, he befriends outgoing rebel Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan) in the tradition bound atmosphere. He introduces Allen to his friends William Burroughs (Ben Foster), jealous David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) with his girlfriend Edie Parker (Elizabeth Olsen). They call themselves 'A New Vision' as they break away from the stifling restrictions of the university until it culminates into murder.

I'm not in love with John Krokidas' directing efforts. It's missing something. I don't like the attempt to add jazz into the style of the structure. It needs to raise the tension or emotion or something. The guys' murky relationships are a good start. Maybe it needs to show them having more sex. Something is not all there. I can't really pinpoint it.

What really works is the performances of Daniel Radcliffe and the brilliant Dane DeHaan. DeHaan is outstanding. Radcliffe has put Harry Potter behind him. I think the film could put more emotional acting on the screen. That again has to do with the directing. Certainly this is better and more coherent than 'On the Road'. It has great performances but a couple of things keep this from being great.

I had the opportunity to see this movie at the Sundance film festival this year. Absolutely amazing. John Krokidas is a visionary. This is proof that there is an acting life for Daniel Radcliffe after Harry Potter. It is a thrilling and provocative must see. The film flows beautifully and keeps you entranced. This film pushes the limits to new depths that the industry is in desperate need of. I left the film feeling like my mind had been opened to a whole new level. I will watch this movie again and again. But keep in mind it is not for the faint of heart, it is very intense. If you want passion, betrayal, sex, drugs and as rock and roll as the 40's can get, this is your movie.