Daniel Radcliffe plays Ginsberg, a nervy, naive young man still coming to terms with his sexuality in an aggressively homophobic time. The story begins as he earns a place at the prestigious Columbia University, just as his mentally ill mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh, who’s as excellent as ever) is sent to an institution of a more troubling kind. Drawn into Lucien’s world of drunken parties, jazz bars and drugged-up poetry, Allen finds an outlet for his frustrations – specifically, the rules of rhyme and meter established by his father, Louis (David Cross), also poet of some repute, and his stuffy old teacher, Professor Stevens (John Cullum). With fellow writers Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and the permanently whacked-out William Burroughs (Ben Foster), Allen and Lucien talk about their grand vision for a brave new era of poetry, while spending a greater proportion of their time getting into trouble for stealing boats and switching rare works by Shakespeare with outlawed erotic books by Henry Miller in the university library. Krokidas directs with a sure, confident hand, and the era is captured in seductively-lit interiors that are as rich and mellow as a glass of brandy next to an open fire. The script, co-written by Krokidas and Austin Bunn, is intelligent, witty and poignant, elegantly capturing Ginsberg’s awkwardness and devotion to Lucien, who seldom misses an opportunity to use that affection for his own advantage. Radcliffe turns in his most compelling post-Potter performance yet as Ginsberg, bringing a fractious sort of innocence to the future writer of Howl and The Fall Of America – he’s certainly more suited to the role than that of the saucer-eyed accountant in the recent screen adaptation of The Woman In Black, for example. If there’s a problem with Kill Your Darlings, it’s that Dane DeHaan’s predator-eyed performance as Lucien ends up dominating almost every scene; the movie may be shot through Ginsberg’s eyes, but it’s Lucien, as a troubled young man who seems to positively revel in his self-destructive nature, who creates the most indellible impression. DeHaan’s already made a mark playing similarly disturbed youths in Chronicle and The Place Beyond The Pines, and he’s equally good here. Proving that he’s equal to a script that is smart and full of adult situations, Radcliffe’s taken a decisive step away from his child star status in a mature drama with some uncompromising moments. The film’s title probably holds its own significance for Radcliffe, and if his intention was to finally put some distance between himself and a certain other bespectacled character, then mission accomplished. Hogwarts this is not. Kill Your Darlings is out on the 6th December in the UK. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
