Your Movie Library
Cast
- Jean-Marc BarrJack Kerouac
- Josh LucasNeal Cassady
- Kate BosworthBillie
- Anthony EdwardsLawrence Ferlinghetti
- Henry ThomasPhilip Whalen
- Patrick FischlerLew Welch / Dave Wain
- Radha MitchellCarolyn Cassady
- Stana KaticLenora
- Balthazar GettyMichael McClure
- Nora KirkpatrickAlyson
Recommendations
- 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Filming a truly immersive and dimensional adaptation of a Kerouac novel remains an ongoing challenge for any filmmaker, but Polish’s film comes closer than most, while adding another layer of complexity to the author’s venerable reputation. - 70
Variety
Michael Polish’s Big Sur offers an elegantly muted take on the midlife ennui of Kerouac’s autobiographical 1962 novel. - 63
Washington Post
A beautiful and sometimes affecting film that (appropriately, some would say) has as much difficulty connecting with the world before it as its protagonist does. - 50
The A.V. Club
Nobody’s given the opportunity to do much more than brood prettily and occasionally shout carpe diembromides into the pounding surf. - 50
Portland Oregonian
Some of the performances -- Mitchell, Fischler and especially Lucas -- are lively, but Barr never gets under Kerouac's skin to show the pain of an artist who can't hold his life together. It's a tragedy, played entirely on the surface. - 40
Village Voice
Not exactly a hagiography, Polish's film isn't a tragedy, either -- it's just an uneventful afternoon spent with a dozing rummy. - 38
Slant Magazine
The viewer is informed of a world of chaos, obsession, and irresolution, but has no cinematic means of accessing or understanding it. - 30
The Dissolve
Despite the parade of pretty images and lovely scenery, Big Sur stubbornly fails to cohere into a real movie; instead, it feels like an illustrated novel full of words, ideas, and images, but devoid of structure or characterization.
