After seeing BEAT (2000), I was thoroughly disappointed. Always being curious of William Burroughs, I was under the impression that this film would highlight important events throughout his life and give a detailed synopsis of his rise to fame. Boy, was I wrong...
BEAT does nothing of the sort. It is simply the story (could it even be considered a story?) of Joan Vollmer's escapades with Lucien Carr and Allen Ginsberg through Mexico while Burroughs is away in Guatemala with his homosexual lover. It seems as though the focus here is on Vollmer, NOT Burroughs. I sat patiently waiting for a dramatic trajectory to come forth, but waiting was evidently a waste of time. Nothing even remotely interesting derived from this film...except for maybe the fact that I learned that Burroughs speaks in poetry...(???)
And I digress. Unless you want to watch a film that has little to do with Burroughs and more to do with Vollmer, Carr and Ginsberg, I doubt you should rent BEAT. The film is lame and uninformative.
4/10 stars
BEAT does nothing of the sort. It is simply the story (could it even be considered a story?) of Joan Vollmer's escapades with Lucien Carr and Allen Ginsberg through Mexico while Burroughs is away in Guatemala with his homosexual lover. It seems as though the focus here is on Vollmer, NOT Burroughs. I sat patiently waiting for a dramatic trajectory to come forth, but waiting was evidently a waste of time. Nothing even remotely interesting derived from this film...except for maybe the fact that I learned that Burroughs speaks in poetry...(???)
And I digress. Unless you want to watch a film that has little to do with Burroughs and more to do with Vollmer, Carr and Ginsberg, I doubt you should rent BEAT. The film is lame and uninformative.
4/10 stars