Beat (2000)

Director:

Gary Walkow

Writer:

Gary Walkow (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Sex and Drugs before Rock and Roll

Plot:

The story of writer William Seward Burroughs and his wife. |

Plot Keywords:

Beat Generation | Gay Interest | Benzedrine | Sex | 1940s

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Courtney Love	...	Joan Vollmer Burroughs
Kiefer Sutherland	...	William S. Burroughs
Lisa Sheridan	...	Sadie
Patricia Llaca	...	Mary (as Patricia De Llaca)
Steve Hedden	...	Pharmacist
Ron Livingston	...	Allen Ginsberg
Norman Reedus	...	Lucien Carr
Daniel Martínez	...	Jack Kerouac
Kyle Secor	...	Dave Kammerer
Pedro Gonzalez	...	Knife Sharpener
Georgiana Sîrbu	...	Julie
Rene Rubio	...	Bill Jr.
Sam Trammell	...	Lee
Alec Von Bargen	...	Heard
Tommy Perna	...	Dwight

MPAA:

Rated R for language and elements of sex, drugs and violence.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, México D.F., Mexico

Company:

Background Productions

Quotes:

Joan Vollmer: And what does your young man make of the Mayans?
William S. Burroughs: Well I have yet to inquire about his preference in lost civilizations.
Joan Vollmer: Ah, but he must like ruins.
William S. Burroughs: [chuckles] Yes. He likes me tolerably enough.

Movie Connections:

Version of Naked Lunch (1991)

I love you like a hole in the head

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.