The roles of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, two influential writers who (along with Jack Kerouac) comprised the leading lights of the “Beat Generation,” are ably essayed here by, respectively, Kiefer Sutherland and Ron Livingston. Unfortunately, the scriptwriter didn't give them decent material to work with, and director Gary Walkow never rises above a barely functional visual style. Narrated by Ginsberg, Beat purports to depict the events that shaped their writing careers, including Burroughs' passing over wife Joan Vollmer (Courtney Love) for a gay affair with Lucien Carr (Norman Reedus) before accidentally (?) shooting her in the head. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Gary Walkow and co-editor Steve Vance, and a photo gallery that misspells star Kiefer Sutherland's first name. Bottom line: a lightweight extras package for a lightweight film.] (T. Rich)
Beat
Lions Gate, 80 min., R, VHS: $44.99, DVD: $24.99, Oct. 15 Volume 17, Issue 6
Beat
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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