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Movies & TV

Howl

HOWL (Mongrel, 2010) D: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, w/ James Franco, Jon Hamm. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNN Rating: NNN


In 1955, a young New Yorker, Allen Ginsberg, wrote a groundbreaking and influential poem that was part confession and celebration of his homosexuality, part diatribe against conformist corporate America, and shot through with a powerful spiritual yearning. Two years later, his publisher was busted for obscenity.

Writer/directors Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein have put together a tribute to the poem that cycles between the trial, an imaginary interview with Ginsberg discussing his inspirations and writing methods, and his first public reading of the poem, with animated illustration.

Taken together, the parts make an engaging look at the poem, the poet and his times.

For much of the movie, James Franco’s is the only voice we hear. He brings the poem to life and makes Ginsberg’s long monologues sound thoughtful and heartfelt. The obscenity trial provides some deadpan comedy as various academics denounce the poem with utter and utterly assured nonsense.

The well-made making-of doc adds a little to our understanding of Ginsberg.

EXTRAS Making-of doc. Widescreen. English audio. French subtitles.

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