I never was much of one for poetry. I love writing, I love words, and I love the things you can do with them and the images they can create, so it seems, I guess, like I would have more of an affinity, but life is a mystery, I guess. Until this year when I took a Creative Writing course and turned out to be really good at the stuff. Weird, right? Anyway, while I never read much of it, I was quite taken when I first read some of the work by Allen Ginsberg. His whole gang was great; I only read Jack Kerouac's “On the Road” once in high school, but very much enjoyed it, and I absolutely love the work of William S. Burroughs. (Pro tip: read “Junky” before taking on “Naked Lunch.” Also, check out the book “The Yage Letters,” his correspondence with Ginsberg while off in South America partaking of ayahuasca.)
A couple years ago we had a film about Ginsberg entitled Howl, starring the enigmatic James Franco. Now, we have something new: Kill Your Darlings, starring Daniel Radcliffe – Harry Potter himself – as the poet. The film takes place upon his meeting of Kerouac and Ginsberg, as well as the alluring Lucien Carr and the jealous David Kammerer. Ginsberg is seduced by Carr's exciting lifestyle, and things get out of hand, and Kammerer winds up dead at the hand of Carr. What's a young poet to do?
Kill Your Darlings is currently playing as the latest installment in the Louisville Exclusives series at Village 8. It is scheduled to run until next Thursday, December 5. Village 8 is located at 4014 Dutchmans Lane. Further theater information and showtimes can be found at the Village 8 website.
Image: Internet Movie Database
