A sleeper that captures the shock behind a conforming era
We saw Kill Your Darlings two weeks ago at The Esquire and it’s already gone, but I didn’t want it to be forgotten. For fans of the Beat Writers (Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kerouac), it’s highly recommended as a look at their student years at
Columbia University. Though they become celebrated and notorious, the characters initially could be any potentially talented undergraduates hoping to prove their worth. It shows that Daniel Radcliffe has the guts to take risks – the leading role, but not the best one – and that writer-director John Krokidas possesses the talent and patience to wait four years for a star to be able to appear.
Columbia University. Though they become celebrated and notorious, the characters initially could be any potentially talented undergraduates hoping to prove their worth. It shows that Daniel Radcliffe has the guts to take risks – the leading role, but not the best one – and that writer-director John Krokidas possesses the talent and patience to wait four years for a star to be able to appear.
Ginsberg (Radcliffe) at Columbia |
Dexter Observes Carr and Ginberg's Awkward Relationship |
Carr was the muse for Ginsberg and Kerouac, though I wondered if he was dyslexic or possibly semi-literate because he never wrote himself. It’s also a dark thriller about a love story gone desperately wrong between a reputed stalker and his ambiguous prey. In viewing and writing about this later, Ginsberg comes into his own as an artist.
Jennifer Jason Leigh |
“Kill your darlings” is a term that Ginsberg’s English Professor, played with relish by John Cullum, uses to instruct his students in reforming their writing. Ginsberg ends up doing just that while writing about someone who actually kills his darling. The Professor has to appear shocked; it’s later that the audience and Ginsberg understand how pleased he is by that piece of writing.
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