This weekend we watched Kill Your Darlings, featuring Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg. (Trailer here.) I was reluctant to see it for a few reasons. 1) Sometimes I feel like the romanticism for the Beats knows no bounds and get tired of it, 2) I was sure it would be like other movies that I've seen about the Beats, 3) I was skeptical of Harry Potter as Allen Ginsberg.
But when we watched it, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Rather than feeling overdone, it captured a story within the Beat timeline that I knew nothing about - the early story revolving around Lucien Carr. The movie portrayed the usual suspects - Burroughs, Kerouac - but the angle was unique. Also, the film was very upbeat - capturing their youth and drive to create a world in which they belonged (because even though they were privileged white guys, they were gay intellectuals in the 1940s, after all).
Anyway, I highly recommend the movie. It returned me to my absolute love of Allen Ginsberg. Of all the Beats, he is my favorite. In his youth he was insecure, but full of love and open to the experiences of life. As he aged, he found is voice and only became more exuberant in his love of life. So many artists that push back at the status quo are angry, or use their artistic persona to be jerks. And this is not to say that Ginsberg wasn't angry. But he strikes me as unique because he let himself be vulnerable and pure of heart.
Metaphysics
This is the one and only
firmament; therefore
it is the absolute world.
There is no other world.
The circle is complete.
I am living in Eternity.
The ways of this world
are the way of Heaven.
New York, 1949
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