Kill Your Darlings

In 1944, when Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston), Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), and William Burroughs (Ben Foster) were students at Columbia, recklessly experimenting with drugs, poetry, and homosexuality in Greenwich Village, the trio were influenced by charismatic classmate Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), who became the obsession of David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), Carr's creepy former teacher/ex-boyfriend. One night in Riverside Park, Carr killed Kammerer, and Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs were all implicated in the murder through guilt by association. Kerouac and Burroughs later wrote a novel about the case—a manuscript that Carr, who went on to become a respected journalist/editor, suppressed until his death in 2005. Somewhat incoherently scripted by director John Krokidas and Austin Bunn, this melodrama about the birth of the Beat Generation is presented in distractingly fragmentary fashion. Authentic as the gullible, gay poet from Paterson, NJ, Harry Potter star Radcliffe displays more range than he has before. His bespectacled Ginsberg is sensitive, sullen, and socially insecure, and the film features a touching subplot about his poet father (David Cross) and emotionally unstable mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Subversively stylish and seedy—evoking nostalgia for a hallucinogenic period almost seven decades ago—Kill Your Darlings is ultimately unsatisfying as drama, though likely to be popular due to Radcliffe's presence. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray Combo extras include audio commentary by costars Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan, director John Krokidas, and writer Austin Bunn, a Q&A with Krokidas and Bunn (66 min.), “On the Red Carpet at the Toronto Film Festival” (8 min.), deleted scenes (7 min.), a conversation with Radcliffe and DeHaan (6 min.), trailers, and a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an uneven film.] (S. Granger)