Monday, October 6, 2008

Report from Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!: The new Kerouac documentary

So far I've reported about visiting Kerouac's grave and the open mike at Cafe Paradiso on Friday night. In between, we drove over to UMass-Lowell and watched a screening of the new documentary film, One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur. It hit all the right notes, combining interviews with Kerouac contemporaries (e.g., Carolyn Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, David Amram) and current celebrities (e.g., Donal Logue, Tom Waits, Sam Shepard) at actual Big Sur locations. Beautiful camerawork. Touching stories. Perfect musical score. An actor, John Ventimiglia, read passages from Big Sur as part of narration. I thought it was Jack. Spooky.

Afterwards, the director and producers answered questions from the audience. (Side note: lots of beats in that crowd!)

I highly recommend this film whether you are a Kerouac fan or not. Outstanding!

Here's the link with trailer and other information: Kerouac Films.

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