Kill Your Darlings

Studio: Sony Classics
Directed by John Krokidas

Oct 18, 2013 By Austin Trunick Web Exclusive

New York, autumn of ’43. A young Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) heads to the big city to pursue a degree in poetry, but finds himself drawn into a bohemian lifestyle by charismatic classmate Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan.) The troubled Carr has big plans—to start a new literary movement—but lacks the chops to pull it off, so he surrounds himself with writers who do: Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac. They would eventually become the heart of the Beat Generation, but before “Howl,” Naked Lunch, or On The Road, they’d find themselves accessories to murder.

Chronicling the year leading up to Carr’s arrest for killing former associate David Kammerer, Kill Your Darlings does too much to dress up its based-on-true-events story. Director John Krokidas’ stylization choices range from heavy-handed to obvious and intrusive: i.e. slotting in quick-cutting montages to portray fits of creative inspiration, or slow motion tomfoolery to remind the audience that the Beats partook in narcotics. The cast, however, carries the film. Radcliffe rolls through a good portion of it with the same wide-eyed look of wonderment worn through much of his early, boy wizard days—just sub out ‘Hogwarts’ for ‘Columbia University,’ and ‘magic’ for ‘drugs’—but he’s as likeable here playing the naïve new-kid role as he was then. The ridiculously well-stocked ensemble boasts Jack Huston (as Jack Kerouac,) Ben Foster (as William S. Burroughs,) Michael C. Hall, Elizabeth Olsen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Cross, and Kyra Sedgwick. The director uses this parade of familiar faces to strong effect; it’s enough to keep the viewer checked-in as the script lulls or when hokey editing tricks might otherwise become too distracting. Kill Your Darlings underwhelms on several fronts, but it’s difficult to dislike a movie when you find yourself liking everyone in it.

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