Review of Kill Your Darlings (2013) by Filipeneto — 29 Sep 2018

This is one of those movies that I can only understand and evaluate after researching about it. It all begins when Allen Ginsberg joins the prestigious and ultra-conservative Columbia University during World War II. There, he will meet a group of unconventional friends, with pleasure in breaking rules and confronting authorities. From this embryo, as I came to discover, would be born the "Beat Generation" (I had never even heard of it before watching). The script, however, seems indecisive. I've never been able to figure out whether the movie is about the "Beat Generation" or simply about Allen Ginsberg, the way he met his friends and the homicide related to them. This indefinition made the film tedious, with many dead moments that would have been cut off if there was some certainty on the subject. John Krokidas was unable to direct the film toward a clear and definite goal. He just went shooting.

Another problem of this film are the characters. Everything revolves around Ginsberg, the only truly well-built character. All the others are sketches and drafts, and the way the actors worked did not help mitigate that. Dane DeHaan is a stranger to me, has managed to show psychological depth and showed some talent, but his character is too iconoclastic and unpleasant for me to care about it and the same can be said of all other characters and actors. Daniel Radcliffe, who was left with the main role, has a lot of talent and is the best actor here, but his character is quite unpleasant. Another problem here was the feeling that the film makes a kind of apology to homosexuality, something that I definitely don't approve. I know the mainstream thinking of our society tends to accept it as a different form of love, but I have the right to disagree and think otherwise without anyone being able to criticize me for it. We shouldn't live in mental dictatorships, in which mainstream dictates thoughts and opinions that we all must accept. Unfortunately, this happens and these apologies end up appearing very much like subliminal fascist or communist propaganda, used by authoritarian regimes that most people condemn. To what extent, using the cover of our democracy and mass media, does society force us to accept opinions or keep quiet if we disagree with them? It's a rhetorical question, but pertinent.

By way of conclusion, I say that I expected something else from this film. A more focused, goal-oriented script would have been more interesting. A more neutral and natural approach to the characters' sexuality would have removed the apologetic and propagandistic burden I've mentioned. More elaborate characters, capable of building empathy with public, would have resulted in greater public involvement and increased our interest in what's happening. It's a boring, tiring movie that only those who enjoy counterculture or the Beat movement will appreciate. About the crime the film portrays, I was left with the feeling that it is a mere detail of the plot.