Daniel Racliffe takes up the part of notable poet Allen Ginsberg here, but I'm fairly certain most audience members of the Harry Potter generation will still see the little magician in him for years to come. So is this Radcliffe's big breakthrough movie as an adult. Not really. It's still a decent effort though and from the visual standpoint he's certainly a good choice for the character. Here he is truly interesting and somehow involved (though not directly) with his best friend murdering another man. This murder and everything surrounding it still serves as some kind of inspiration for Ginsberg.
We get to know a bit about his parents and a mental home, but this side-plot felt a bit out of place and certainly could have been omitted. Thumbs up, however, for Ben Foster, one of the most talented and unfortunately also most overlooked actors of his generation. I urge you to check out "The Messenger". His William S. Burroughs is a very fine performance and he almost steals the movie, a movie which is a bit of a first timer. Writer Austin Bunn hasn't written a film before and director John Krokidas has only done short films earlier in his career.
Having watched all Dexter season except the last, it's nice to see Michael C. Hall in a more vulnerable role for once. He does a decent job with his character and the whole homosexuality aspect is acted accurately by him. Also you can see how Ginsberg slowly transforms into Hall's character as the film progresses. He really becomes more useful than desired to the point where he even writes a defense statement for his lover who is already accused of murder at that point. The lover is played by Dane DeHaan who comes off like a psychopath just the way he is.
All in all, I can recommend this movie. It has little outstanding strengths, but it makes for a good watch. If you have seen and enjoyed Bertolucci's The Dreamers, you may like this as well. Sometimes it tries to be too extreme like the hanging scene, which wasn't really necessary, but mostly it's crafted nicely.
We get to know a bit about his parents and a mental home, but this side-plot felt a bit out of place and certainly could have been omitted. Thumbs up, however, for Ben Foster, one of the most talented and unfortunately also most overlooked actors of his generation. I urge you to check out "The Messenger". His William S. Burroughs is a very fine performance and he almost steals the movie, a movie which is a bit of a first timer. Writer Austin Bunn hasn't written a film before and director John Krokidas has only done short films earlier in his career.
Having watched all Dexter season except the last, it's nice to see Michael C. Hall in a more vulnerable role for once. He does a decent job with his character and the whole homosexuality aspect is acted accurately by him. Also you can see how Ginsberg slowly transforms into Hall's character as the film progresses. He really becomes more useful than desired to the point where he even writes a defense statement for his lover who is already accused of murder at that point. The lover is played by Dane DeHaan who comes off like a psychopath just the way he is.
All in all, I can recommend this movie. It has little outstanding strengths, but it makes for a good watch. If you have seen and enjoyed Bertolucci's The Dreamers, you may like this as well. Sometimes it tries to be too extreme like the hanging scene, which wasn't really necessary, but mostly it's crafted nicely.