'' The Daily Telegraph '' granted the film a score of three out of five stars , stating that , " 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 " . Reviewing '' Kill Your Darlings '' after its showing at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival , critic Damon Wise of '' The Guardian '' lauded the film for being " the real deal , a genuine attempt to source the beginning of America 's first true literary counterculture of the 20th century " . '' Kill Your Darlings '' , wrote Wise , " creates a true sense of energy and passion , for once eschewing the clacking of typewriter keys to show artists actually talking , devising , and ultimately daring each other to create and innovate . And though it begins as a murder-mystery , '' 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 . " Wise awarded the film four out of five stars . Justin Chang of '' Variety '' wrote , " 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 '' . Directed with an assured sense of style that pushes against the narrow confines of its admittedly fascinating story , John Krokidas ' first feature feels adventurous yet somewhat hemmed-in as it imagines a vortex of jealousy , obsession and murder that engulfed Allen Ginsberg , William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac in the early days of their literary revolution . " Ginsberg 's " long-time confidant and secretary , head of the Allen Ginsberg Trust , " Bob Rosenthal , argues that the film is " a superb evocation of young college students in the midst of World War II finding their unique means of expression in the world . " However , he states , it also contains a number of inaccuracies : " The large fabrications in the film are not so worrisome as the small ones . In any case , when the truth is stepped on and the nuance of truth is denied , the message becomes moribund . " Lucien Carr 's son , Caleb Carr , also stated that the film was inaccurate , describing it as " a tired , ludicrous reading of the story of the murder case ; and like all the other terribly inaccurate readings that have been put out there , it was based almost entirely on Allen Ginsberg 's versions of events . And Allen had an awful lot of reasons for revising the facts to suit a narrative that served his ego and his agenda far more effectively than it did the truth . " Caleb Carr went on to describe Kammerer as a sexual predator 14 years older than Lucien Carr , who first met Lucien when the latter was pubescent and had repeatedly taken advantage of the younger man 's naivete and desperation for a strong male influence after being abandoned by his natural father . Furthermore , Kerouac , who wanted only platonic friendship from Lucien , provoked the jealousy of Kammerer . In contrast , according to Jack Kerouac 's biographer Dennis McNally 's account , Lucien Carr had always insisted , which William Burroughs ( a childhood friend of Kammerer in St. Louis ) believed , that he never had sex with Kammerer
2013 Sundance Film Festival
2013 Sundance Film Festival
Kill Your Darlings (2013 film)