Big Sur

After watching the "On The Road" movie and reading negative reviews about "Kill Your Darlings" I wasn't expecting much from "Big Sur". But I was very pleasantly surprised with how well it was done. The majority of the dialogue is voice-over in Kerouac's own words and other than a couple of minor details the movie stays true to the book. Jean-Marc Barr gave an excellent portrayal of Kerouac, even though he doesn't sound like him very much or even attempt to replicate Kerouac's accent. Patrick Fischler was great as Lew Welch and Henry Thomas offers up some of his best work as Philip Whalen. My only complaint is in the portrayal of the sub-story regarding the goldfish in Billie's apartment. Without giving anything away I'll just say that I didn't think it was handled very well.

Other than that the cinematography is absolutely beautiful and the soundtrack set the mood perfectly throughout the movie. I'm really glad that someone finally made a Kerouac movie the right way, by respectfully staying true to the book. This is easily my favorite movie of 2013 so far.

Was not aware of this one. Found it on Prime. Was really enjoying this - a pleasant surprise - until the last 10 or 15 minutes. I got lost there at the end.

I think it is fair to warn people that the telling factor on whether you will enjoy this film or not is your relationship with Jack Kerouac and the writers of that time and crowd. The more you enjoy Kerouac's writing the more you will enjoy this film which has remained true to him and his words. If you don't enjoy Kerouac or are not familiar with him, then you might be tempted to walk out, or pass out with boredom.

M. David Mullen's cinematography is spectacular and the Big Sur coast is stunning even on a bad day. But for the average viewer, this is a film with not much of a story or character development and an often irritating narration (Kerouac's words) that, depending on your love of Kerouac will come across as either evidence of his genius or delusional in it's presumption of profundity.

If you're fascinated with Kerouac, the Beats, or the era, you may enjoy this picture. Everything is solid, but we're not given music as viewers to digest. Stuff happens, and more stuff happens. Is there a conclusion? Maybe there doesn't need to be.

I really like this movie a lot, if for no other reason than it shows how dark and paranoid alcoholism gets. I love the Beats, especially Kerouac, but it's a turbo-bummer how his life ended up, and "Big Sur" really nails how awful it is. Kerouac's story is a reminder that you only have ONE life. You only have ONE body and mind. For the most part, you only get ONE shot at relationships. You don't need to be plastered to be yourself.

If you can sift through the drunken self-hatred, there's still some good Beat nuggets in there: the Buddhist explorations, the meditation, the zest for life. It's a nice juxtaposition to Kerouac's paranoid state.

Big Sur is the Beat Dream gone bad.