Kill Your Darlings (2013)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 18
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 9/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
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User Ratings: 3,952
Movie Info
Daniel Radcliffe stars as Beat Generation icon Allen Ginsberg in this biopic set during the famed poet's early years at Columbia University, and centering on a murder investigation involving Ginsberg, his handsome classmate Lucien Carr, and fellow Beat author William Burroughs. The year is 1944. Ginsberg (Radcliffe) is a young student at Columbia University when he falls hopelessly under the spell of charismatic classmate Carr (Dane DeHaan). Alongside Carr, Ginsberg manages to strike up
Oct 16, 2013 Limited
Sony Pictures Classics
- Official Site
Cast
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Daniel Radcliffe
Allen Ginsberg -
Dane DeHaan
Lucien Carr -
Ben Foster
William S. Burroughs -
Michael C. Hall
David Kammerer -
Jack Huston
Jack Kerouac -
Elizabeth Olsen
Edie Parker -
Kyra Sedgwick
Marian Carr - Lucien... -
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Naomi Ginsberg -
David Cross
Louis Ginsberg -
John Cullum
Prof. Stevens -
David Rasche
Dean
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Kill Your Darlings Trailer & Photos
All Critics (18) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (4)
Radcliffe - hair permed into Ginsbergy college curls, full of vitality - holds the emotional center as a young artist in art and in life.
Top CriticAn unquestionable improvement over last year's paint-by-numbers On the Road, but it still falls victim to the kind of idol worship that has made most movies about the Beats hard to take.
There is a chemistry between [Radcliffe and DeHaan] that is more than just sexual.
A mysterious Beat Generation footnote is fleshed out with skilled performances, darkly poetic visuals and a vivid rendering of 1940s academia in Kill Your Darlings.
And the Beat goes on, this time in a syncopated study that sheds light in particular on the young Allen Ginsberg.
Even if it's not as revelatory or insightful as one might hope, it's still a compelling tale of the influences that shaped our most consequential writers of the 20th century.
Never really hits or finds its footing, making it a decent and at times inspiring film, but one that leaves you wanting to dive more fully into either Carr or Ginsberg's lives.
"Kill Your Darlings" doesn't really humanize these characters beyond half-drawn caricatures in an origin tale that wouldn't be out of place in an average super hero film.
An overmatched star and a scarcity of eccentricity sink this hip-lit origin story from director John Krokidas.
Unlike Walter Salles's recent adaptation of On The Road, which embraced the Beat philosophy with a wide and credulous grin, Kill Your Darlings is inquisitive about the movement's worth, and the genius of its characters is never assumed.
Led by tremendous performances from Dane DeHaan and Daniel Radcliffe, Kill Your Darlings is an energetic, stylish and engrossing look into the formative years of the Beat Generation.
An entertaining biopic that illustrates the way Allen Ginsberg's youthful friendships in college would lead to his fame as a poet.
Darlings feels so alive in every frame, from the clever, crisp dialogue to the smart plotting to the tonal shifts that may seem like imbalances to some critics but feel like jazz music riffs to this one.
KILL YOUR DARLINGS is really smart, but the movie never feels overly academic. It's too fun and frenzied, beautifully paced.
Incredible performances by Daniel Radcliffe and the supporting cast of Kill Your Darlings unify an inconsistent film, ultimately leading to a powerful ending.
A fresh, invigorating look at the Beat Poets.
Darlings is a multi-tiered accomplishment. Not only is Krokidas' script smart, funny, and fully engaging but the ensemble performance is spectacular.
Kill Your Darlings may be best described as an intellectual moral maze, a story perfectly of its time and yet one that still resonates today.
Audience Reviews for Kill Your Darlings
Super Reviewer
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- Lucien Carr: Are you a writer?
- Allen Ginsburg: No, I'm not.
Discussion Forum
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| could it break out!!! | 7 months ago | 2 |
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