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DVD - Beat Angel - the Spirit of Kerouac
(Beat Angel Productions)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz
Is Jack Keruoac a bodhisattva -- that mystic poet more at home in the quiet woods of the north Cascades, communing with Gary Snyder? Or is he merely a drunk, French-American failed athlete whose after-hours party ramblings about trips out west were the unintentional stirrings of the so-called Beat generation's engine?
Likely, you'd find observers of Keruoac (and American literature, as he fits there now) split along these lines. A central contradiction is at the heart of a man whose dual pre-occupations were with clear headed mediation and copious wine consumption - often in the same narrative. That schism is where the film Beat Angel tries to drive its narrative action. A re-incarnated Jack (the optimist, doe-eyed, dreaming variety) comes to life for one night in Seattle on the anniversary of his own death and attempts to touch the life of Gerard, a man living hand-to-mouth as a writer in the opposite guise (that of the cynical, torn up inside, city dweller). Jack and Gerard clash outwardly, feud for women's attention and ultimately (careful not to provide a spoiler here) have profound, life-changing influence on one another.
What isn't up for debate is that Keruoac was the prime voice in a movement that opened the mid-1950's youth of America up to breaking down the doors of their bedroom community (Ginsburg or Burroughs fans might argue). The idea of driving, drinking, smoking marijuana, carousing on buses, exploring, and doing so from a genuine place in the heart is Jack's real legacy almost 40 years after his death. The novel On The Road is synonymous with that true, restless heart, and everything afterwards seems to live in account of that wanderlust. Keruoac will always be known as one who heroically freed a generation from the unforgivable sin of repeating its parent's mundanely drawn path.
What filmmaker Randy Allred does well with Beat Angel is draw on that undeniable legacy. The narrative seems to trip when it tries to make a compelling case for exploring its subject's contradiction, but it does celebrate the poet/author's time on earth very well. Vincent Balestri plays Jack (physically the older, broken down Big Sur version of Keruoac) with a child like curiosity, one that either works or doesn't depending on what he is interpreting in the given scene. If it's the wandering, mendicant, touching a young woman's heart, then it's passable - almost interesting, as his charm is almost sticky to the touch. The problem comes when he clashes with the equally hot and cold Gerard (Frank Tabbita) in performances that are more fun to look at than anything else. Their clashes are almost of the purely superficial variety, and listening to them is akin to reading a freshman art student's term paper on realism vs. fantasy.
It isn't fair to go too far in breaking up Allred's film though. The legacy he's undertaken in Beat Angel is the most daunting in post-war American literature - no one else comes with more feeling and layperson connection; more room for understanding and misunderstanding that Keruoac. Ultimately, this is a rough, artfully created film, more for fans of the man's style. A clear headed examination of his substance might be yet another post-humous release from City Light's Books away.
© 2007 - Erick Mertz