Howl at Outfest 2010's Opening Gala: New Film Stars James Franco as Allen Ginsberg
Orpheum Theatre (842 South Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90014)
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The last date listed for Howl was Thursday July 8, 2010 / 8:00pm.
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8 Goldstar Member Reviews
Mark Farber
The story of Alan Ginsberg, the creation of Howl, the Ferlinghetti obscenity trial, Neal Cassidy and Jack Kerouac is fodder for a very engaging queer film.... this is not it. Ponderous and overly intellectual, too much time spent reciting and re reciting the actual poem Howl with not nearly enough time on story and character development. Kudos for making the film and too a talented cast of committed performers.... it's just didn't work for me.Written on Jul 09 2010
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great cast and subject but overly earnest and lacking in dynamics. the animation was an unfortunate choice. this is a film to admire more than get excited about.Written on Jul 11 2010
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GWM
You have to be a die-hard fan of Allen Ginsburg and his poem to like this movie. If you haven't read the poem, don't worry, it is spoken many times during the film. Too many times actually. The cast is impressive, but the film was just too heavy-handed.Written on Jul 10 2010
The OUTFEST workers made me move my seat four times. It seemed that the volunteers were rather disorganized.
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dramarams
Howl by Allen Ginsberg is one of my favorite pieces of modern literature. It was revealed to me by someone I consider an angel on this Earth who was taken away way too young. Before he passed, he showed me this poem and it spoke to me in ways that still chokes me up and takes my breath away. When I first read it, I was living at home and closeted but sneaking out late at night while my parents were asleep so I could find something that would quench my thirst for life, for sin, for mad joy. This film, a scripted documentary, brings forth this brilliant poem to life through a fantastic performance by James Franco as Ginsberg. Through scripted scenes between Ginsberg and his fellow Beat masters (Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady) based on audio recordings, court records from the obscenity trials that came after publishing, and through beautiful stream-of-consciousness animation, Howl becomes more than just a poem, more than words on a page, but something you can finally see and hear and maybe even smell and touch. A brilliant movie. I can't rave about it enough. Any fan of this poem, and of Ginsberg and the Beats, would LOVE this film!Written on Jul 09 2010
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More Information About Howl
Description
Outfest 2010 with Howl, a hypnotic journey through the interwoven stories of Allen Ginsberg's personal quest for liberation, the historical court case against his poem and the power of Howl as a work of art.
Howl begins in San Francisco in 1955 as 29-year-old Allen Ginsberg (James Franco) first recites his bebop inspired poem "Howl" to a riveted audience in Gallery Six. When published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, the drug-inspired imagery and explicit references to gay sex in the poem become the focus of the famous obscenity trial against Ferlinghetti and, not surprisingly, help "Howl" become one of the most prominent and notorious works of the Beat Generation.
Through his relationships with three crucial men, the film explores Ginsberg's self-realization. Not only does Ginsberg fall in love with fellow writers Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Peter Orlovsky (who becomes Ginsberg's life partner), but together the men inspire each other to live and work spontaneously and freely. Ultimately, along with the other Beats, they give birth to an American counterculture.
Howl is the first dramatic feature film from veteran documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Times of Harvey Milk, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Celluloid Closet, Paragraph 175). In telling Ginsberg's story, Epstein and Friedman boldly translate the poem into a cinematic experience (with original animation by Eric Drooker, who collaborated with Ginsberg on his Illuminated Poems), recreate the life and times of Ginsberg and showcase James Franco in a revelatory performance as the young poet.
Howl as a film is a wholly creative and unabashedly sexually charged approach to the literary work, and in its tribute to Allen Ginsberg and Howl, it's a powerful reminder of the possibility and magnitude of art.