Oh, My 'Darling'

Kill Your Darlings
Directed by: John Krokidas
Written by: John Krokidas & Austin Bunn
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C. Hall

Allen Ginsburg had to learn about love just as the rest of us do. Often, it's easy to think of authors and poets and other creative types as having known the answers all along.  They experiment with a certain substance and bam! the meaning of life's biggest questions appear.  Appear for you to put on paper and become the voice of a generation.  I thought that way on film school and, ten years later, am still figuring out life through experiences. Ginsburg could have done all the drugs he wanted, but it wasn't until he fell in love with Lucien Carr that he could write with deeper meaning. 

Kill Your Darlings focuses on the Ginsburg's college years - that time when we are invincible, when we are impressionable, when we know everything and nothing.  He enters Columbia University a naive and eager poet, following in his dad's footsteps to become a writer. It's clear early on that he would rather fight the establishment than join it.  As a freshman, he meets Lucien Carr, an upperclassmen who, in Ginsburg's eyes, has already discovered who he is.  Which is the appeal - those who effectively give the appearance of completed self discovery. Allen and Lucien, with the help of poet William Burroughs, and eventually Jack Kerouac, decide it's time for a revolution. It's the 1940's - the height of WWII - and the opportunity is there.  But who's leading the revolution?  Who's doing the work?  Of course, it's Ginsburg all along, but Lucien is so effective a manipulator (brought on by abandonment issues) that Allen confuses love for infatuation.  

But there is a third party in the Allen/Lucien dynamic and his name's David (Michael C. Hall). An older man, he's been in love with Lucien for several years, following him from college to college, city to city. Also falling for Lucien's easy charm, David will do anything for him, including writing all his college papers.  Allen's entry into their lives causes a hiccup that unfortunately spirals out of control.  Allen is ultimately crushed, emotionally, by Lucien. This, more then any teacher, adult, or drug allows him to reflect and write on life in a truly honest and raw sense. 

Daniel Radcliffe, still working on shedding his Harry Potter fame, does great work, easily playing Ginsburg as both the naive victim and the owner of his fate. Though there are still times when it's hard to not see the Potter in his performance (especially in the more emotional moments) Radcliffe seems to understand the heart break that comes with loving someone who doesn't love you back. Or, worse, is unknowingly using you. Dane DeHaan is excellent as Lucien Carr.  Relatively unknown, DeHaan breathes much life and humanity into a difficult role. It'd be easy to dislike Carr, but there's such an honest element brought to the role, which DeHaan and screenwriters Austin Bunn & John Krokidas get equal credit for.  Director Krokidas tells a very tight and concise story, focusing only on a specific few years of Ginsburg's life. We already know who he becomes, but what got him there?  This focus is important as the film doesn't try to cram all of Ginsburg's entire life story into two hours.  It wouldn't work as it would have diluted his early years, which is what makes him who he is. That is what the story is trying to tell, while also showing us that great writers go through the same eye opening life experiences that we do.  It's what makes them great writers and able to expand on life's issues.  It’s a refreshing reminder that no one immediately has all the answers.  They have to be earned, learned, and experienced.  What makes them worthwhile is having the ability to understand them.