Beat

I wasn't expecting much (truth be told) but was quite pleasantly surprised. As much as history equates to fiction (and from what I've heard/read this movie must be taken as a work of near-fiction.. "sources" being what they are..) this story still made for a pretty good motion picture. Courtney Love is a very good actress, and not many parts is she better suited to than that of Joan Burroughs. I liked her performance. Keifer Sutherland also made a pretty convincing Bill. The guy that played Lucien Carr (Norman Reedus?) was also impressive.

As "interpretive" as the story was I didn't resent it as much as I thought I might. I imagine William Burroughs, were he still in the land of the living, might have had a few issues with this film but hey, movies always without fail in-one-way-or-another romanticize the truth (truth, truth.. mmmm.. ponder it) and the movie DID do that.. but not as grotesquely as it could've and for that, if nothing else, I liked it. Well-observed (in a secondary, nobody-here-was-actually-there, speculative kind of way) the story still flowed (aided by the, in my opinion, very good performances.) Keifer made William Burroughs seem to have emotions, and strong ones at that, which was interesting.. as you never really picture him like that. (Going by the tone of his spoken-word recordings maybe? the dour face? the slightly contemptible countenance? I don't know.. you just never think of him as the howl-at-the-moon type.. I think Keifer's attempt at humanizing him was quite admirable really.)

The script wasn't bad (could've been MUCH worse.. riddled with beatnik cliches..) there were no real cringe-worthy moments (no-one said anything to the effect of "are you hip to all that jazz" etc etc.. which was a relief.) I liked the movie overall. It's no major statement, and you'd do infinitely better to read some of the great biographies out there if you want an overview of the tale and the beats in general, but the movie is a harmless, and quite enjoyable, footnote.

I liked the quotes at the end (their attempt at a summery i suppose..) especially the gorgeous quote from Lucien Carr. Oh yes and Ron Livingston was also in fine form as poor old lovelorn Allen Ginsberg.

Look I think William Burroughs was one of the most important figures in not only post-War literature, but in pop culture generally. His work and ideas, and those of the other Beats, have had enormous repercussions on all kinds of arts, and have directly or indirectly affected many of our lives whether we know it or not. Burroughs life was almost as fascinating as his work, but you wouldn't know it from watching 'Beat', as it manages to condense some fascinatingly uncliched relationships into a soap-like love triangle.

I was suprised at the casting of Kiefer Sutherland at first. He isn't an obvious choice to play Burroughs, but he tries hard to humanise him. Unfortunately the thin script doesn't give him much to go on. Likewise Ron Livingston (best known for 'Office Space') does fairly well as Allen Ginsberg, but the script doesn't convince with it's simplistic, almost stereotypical drawing of a complex figure. Lastly, Courtney Love is fine as Burroughs second wife Joan Vollmer, but once again the writing simplifies a multi-layered person into an easy to grasp "character".

It speaks volumes that Cronenberg's surreal 'Naked Lunch' manages to give a much richer and more convincing depiction of these tragic events than the more "realistic" 'Beat'. Perhaps the only way to really deal with the Beats on screen is to aim closer to the approach of their own poetry and prose. The definitive movie portrayal of Burroughs, Ginsberg and co has yet to made. I hope one does eventuate as it's a story that NEEDS to be told!

I enjoyed this film, the actors being excellent & NORMAN REEDUS a talent I had not previously had the luck to experience. Courtney Love & Keifer Sutherland are spot on as the duelling couple. Ron Livingston's part as Ginsberg is brief yet assured, & the dialogue is crackling. I bought this for £1 in Sainsburys whilst doing the shopping. It's one of my best DVD buys, actually. It's certainly an ambitious film, yet it works.

The scenes are the right length & the director never gets consumed with his subject- this could easily have been an obsessive project. All in all, a worthy look at the moment when Burroughs became a writer.

This is a film drenched in a palpable sadness: the sadness of being gay in the 1950s; the sadness of being a woman in the 1950s; the sadness of being anything out of the ordinary in the 1950s. But I've been rereading a lot of Kerouac lately, and I don't think it would be a stretch to say that the whole Beat Movement was propelled by sadness.

This is also an intriguing film, though I wouldn't call it a great one. Anyone interested in the Beats should see it. But if you don't know the back story of these characters, I can imagine that much of what they do doesn't make a lot of sense.

I thought Courtney Love gave a remarkable performance, surprisingly nuanced, aided by her off center beauty. In Kiefer Sutherland's defense, I'm not sure even Bill Burroughs could play Bill Burroughs. And I wish Kyle Secor and Ron Livingston could have traded roles. I thought Secor captured Allen Ginsberg's manic charisma better, to the extent that when he was on screen, I felt like he and not Livingston, was actually Ginsberg.

More motivated by the recreation of the beat generation than by the film acting and production, I was gladly surprised by the respectful treatment of Mexico in this movie: the staging without trials of a country plagued by centuries of poverty, in the 50s, has in addition a careful photography and stunning natural scenarios in which the plot remains unalterable, professional and carefully conducted.

The outstanding performance of Courtney Love, personifying Joan Burroughs, is enhanced by her proverbial beauty in a performance that well deserves to be considered an icon in contemporary cinema. Courtney's big close ups emphasizing "I dare you" can take your breath away. Norman Reedus, in the role of Lucien Carr, gives a slight hint enacting his duties at UPI and clarifies his role in the beat movement. In the film cast Ron Livingston as Allen Ginsberg gives the picture of the introspective young adult he was. Kiefer Sutherland, as William Burroughs, has better lines than acting… yet, his presence is a must.

Finding Mexican actor Luis Felipe Tovar was a surprise. With his eloquent Mexican touch, he embodies a federal policeman in a Michoacan state country road. Memorable. His click on the words in Spanish is his natural; Tovar is definitely a character in alternative Mexican cinema.

The abuse of amphetamine "Benzedrine" and homosexuality are seen on screen without judgments and are merely descriptive elements of the narrative construction, as befits the vision of Gary Walkow, Beat's director.

Highly recommended.