Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan
Directed by John Krokidas
An account of a young Allen Ginsberg discovering his voice and modus operandi (and getting wrapped up in a murder in the process), John Krokidas Kill Your Darlings represents a debut feature in which an obviously talented filmmaker is still honing his craft.
Arriving at Columbia University in 1943, Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe, whose eagerness to reinvent himself results in too deliberate a performance) is taken under the corruptive wing of seductive Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan, who remains one of the screens most intriguing new presences thanks to his naturally odd, unfailingly intense bearing). Introducing Ginsberg to narcotics, revolutionary theories and William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston), Carr ducks cryptic mentions of an incident in Chicago. However, does it really qualify as a mystery if we cant care less about discovering what actually happened?
The film inspires just such apathy far too frequently. With the details and trajectory of this true story already dictated by history, its incumbent on Krokidas to inject some immediacy. Alas, the anachronistic inclusion of TV on the Radios music seems more like window dressing than a genuine anarchic flourish. And while explicitly declaring that killing your darlings doing away with elements that youre most attached to is the first principle of creation, Krokidas film is rife with touches that seem included for his benefit rather than the good of the narrative. Furthermore, its rather condescending for a film to equate traditional poetic technique with fascism while constantly lapsing into convention itself.
While talking a depraved game, Kill Your Darlings is largely DOA.
