Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Jack Huston, Ben Foster
Directed by John Krokidas
Rating: MA-15
If there is a film that will get Daniel Radcliffe as far away from being Harry Potter as possible, this would be it.
Kill Your Darlings has everything: sex, drugs, murder, poetry and even jazz. Based on a true story and directed by John Krokidas, the film follows the Columbia University adventures of young poet Allen Ginsberg (Radcliffe) and his Bohemian friends, who are better known as the “Beat Generation”.
In 1940s New York, young Allen is a wide-eyed freshman at Columbia University. For all intents and purposes, he is an average guy. That is, until he meets the charismatic piercingly-blue-eyed Lucien Carr (DeHaan), with whom he shares a constant push-pull relationship until the very end of the film. Lucien introduces him to William Burroughs (Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Huston), and together they break the rules of writing and morality.
In the film, Ginsberg’s fixation with Carr brings about the discovery and exploration of his own sexuality and his literary talents. Radcliffe’s performance as a young freshman following a senior boy like a lost puppy is something to be applauded, though it is DeHaan’s tense, smouldering stares and pouty angst that really get the whole dynamic going.
Sex and sexuality in the film are topics that aren’t discussed, but rather experienced or set aside for more important things like drugs or murder. Homosexuality is a topic that plays a big role in the film, even though it is never discussed and only acted upon through stolen kisses and awkward sexual encounters.
Only one thing is troubling about all the sex in the film and that is the fact that I may not be able to watch Harry Potter ever again without the images of Daniel Radcliffe in very compromising positions.
Krokidas certainly does a good directorial job of portraying the events in a romantic, almost sepia tone that can make even the younger viewers in the cinema nostalgic for a time they weren’t even alive for. In fact, the whole film and all its characters are so romanticised that, by the end of the film, you almost feel sorry for all the heart-wrenching things said and done by one Lucien Carr.
Despite being shot in a span of only 24 days on a shoestring budget, Kill Your Darlings is one of the better films out there that has covered the Beat Generation. The costumes and music throughout the film were so specifically chosen to fit the mood, which makes for a great experience when you’re trying to get into the vibe of the film.
Overall the actors played their parts well and made the film more than just some kind of coming-of-age story. Krokidas also does a great job with creating beautiful visuals and generally just making you feel like you’re experiencing things right along the group of writers.
He is, at times, able to portray something so well that by having so much happening on-screen you feel like you’re on drugs as well. There’s also the fact that during one sexual encounter, Krokidas is able to deliver a feeling of vulnerability and brokenness so convincing that it feels as if it is happening to us.
3 and a half out of 5.
I am not Ellis 