The best thought this is 'absolutely amazing' and the worst that 'on so many different levels, this movie is stupendously awful'. Actually it is - in my view, at least - neither. The thought occurs to me that, for whatever reason the sum of the parts don't quite add up to a whole. Kill Your Darlings is oddly bloodless and bland, which is something of an irony given that it ends with the stabbing and drowning of one of the characters.
Part of the problem for John Krokidas is that one of the central elements of his piece, the Beat Generation and its various protagonists - including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs - are of rather less consequence in the second decade of 21st century than many, not least the Beat Generation, would like. OK, so they caused something of a stir in the Fifties and kicked over the traces in a safe Western world which preferred domesticity and calm after the torrid time of World War II, but quite soon the real next generation came along, the baby boomers, grabbing far more attention and rather tactlessly shuffling the Beats off-stage.
Then there is the work of the Beats. You might rate it, but from what I have read, it is all rather silly and trivial. Rebelling against contemporary conformity was their main interest - when is it not for a young generation? - but the poems and prose pieces - or at least those Krokidas chose to include in his film - are pretty trivial, silly and often quite bad. (Truman Capote, who could write, dismissed On The Road, Kerouac's alleged masterpiece as 'that's not writing, that's typing'. Read it, or some of it, then read some of Capote's work. I think you'll be inclined to agree with the little monster.)\
The pieces of Ginsburg poetry we were presented with sound no more significant than all other trite juvenilia I've come across (including my own). It's one thing to stick out your tongue at your elders, pulls faces and proclaim you are different, but quite another to leave behind a body of work of real substance.
So Krokidas had - has - problem. Anther difficulty is that, despite tremendous performances all round, none of the characters is particularly likable. We don't really care about any of them (except perhaps Ginsburg's mother).
Amazing? Stupendously awful? Not at all. Kill Your Darlings is a well-made, engaging film, but it rather limps where it should at times sprint. But certainly worth a 6.
Part of the problem for John Krokidas is that one of the central elements of his piece, the Beat Generation and its various protagonists - including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs - are of rather less consequence in the second decade of 21st century than many, not least the Beat Generation, would like. OK, so they caused something of a stir in the Fifties and kicked over the traces in a safe Western world which preferred domesticity and calm after the torrid time of World War II, but quite soon the real next generation came along, the baby boomers, grabbing far more attention and rather tactlessly shuffling the Beats off-stage.
Then there is the work of the Beats. You might rate it, but from what I have read, it is all rather silly and trivial. Rebelling against contemporary conformity was their main interest - when is it not for a young generation? - but the poems and prose pieces - or at least those Krokidas chose to include in his film - are pretty trivial, silly and often quite bad. (Truman Capote, who could write, dismissed On The Road, Kerouac's alleged masterpiece as 'that's not writing, that's typing'. Read it, or some of it, then read some of Capote's work. I think you'll be inclined to agree with the little monster.)\
The pieces of Ginsburg poetry we were presented with sound no more significant than all other trite juvenilia I've come across (including my own). It's one thing to stick out your tongue at your elders, pulls faces and proclaim you are different, but quite another to leave behind a body of work of real substance.
So Krokidas had - has - problem. Anther difficulty is that, despite tremendous performances all round, none of the characters is particularly likable. We don't really care about any of them (except perhaps Ginsburg's mother).
Amazing? Stupendously awful? Not at all. Kill Your Darlings is a well-made, engaging film, but it rather limps where it should at times sprint. But certainly worth a 6.