Howl (Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman) 2010

Howl is an interesting hybrid film. In a way it is a dramatized documentary in that the only words spoken are those which were actually said by the real life people. This is because the movie is taken from court transcripts and interviews. So this one of the few exceptions where Hollywood doesn’t twist around true stories in order to make them more exciting to the audience. But I say Howl is more a hybrid due to the many subjects it presents. The movie follows a trial in which the publisher for Howl is charged printing obscene materials, but we also learn about Ginsberg’s life, what goes into his writing, his experiences with other Beat writers, and a brief glimpse of the time Ginsberg was writing in. These different segments are strung together with a reading of Howl to an animated interpretation of the poem.

It may seem odd the first thing I am going to talk about is the pacing, but it is one of the things I love about it. This movie is only about 80 minutes but I think that is just about the perfect length. Howl does not overstay its welcome and keeps a fast pace throughout so the viewer is not bored at any time. There is so much material to cover and different topics that are interesting in their own right that I think everyone will find something to enjoy. This is a small investment for a lot of knowledge.

I am a huge fan of the Beat Generation and Ginsberg, but I also thought the best part of the movie was the kind of dramatization of the obscenity trial. We see several literary experts paraded in front of the stand trying to give their opinion on either why Howl is so brilliant, or how one tries to “objectively” prove that Howl has no significance. Here you get several great supporting appearances by David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, and Treat Williams. I think at the very least it is an interesting part of legal history which discusses free speech.

James Franco plays Allen Ginsberg and I really can’t comment too much on his performance. Frankly there isn’t a whole lot to judge in terms of a performance. Franco is essentially re-enacting an interview he had in 1957 so it is not like he does a lot to flex his acting muscles. From what he does, he does a fine job but there simply isn’t enough material for anyone to show their acting skills.

If I had a gripe it is probably the animated sections of Howl. I appreciate the filmmakers wanted to present the poem to the viewers and maybe help them with some visual representations. But the artwork isn’t all that great and those sections lose a little of the impact they should have.

I realize this film may not be as deep or as extensive as some Beat lovers would want out of a Ginsberg story. However with that being said, I think this movie achieves a bigger goal of reaching a larger audience. As I said, this is a nice primer to people that may not know all that much about Ginsberg, who don’t know what the hell Howl means, and don’t know the significance it had on the culture. I think this is a good movie for both Ginsberg fans and for the general public alike.