Dir. Rob Epstein/Jeffrey Friedman , US , 2010, 84 mins
Cast: James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn ,
Review by Carol Allen
Epstein and Friedman, who wrote, produced and directed this unusual film, describe it as a poem-pic and one cannot better that description.
It is built around one of the most famous literary works from the Beat Generation of the fifties – Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl , which is a powerful indictment of the hypocrisy of the times, and its persecution via the trial of the publisher of that work for obscenity. Rather than adopting a straight narrative approach, the directors intercut between the various aspects of their story, adopting different visual styles for each strand.
The first element is scenes shot in black and white of Ginsberg (Franco) reading Howl for the very first time to a dedicated and enthusiastic audience in a basement venue, which perfectly captures the sub culture of the time. His reading of the poem is illuminated with some stunning “Beat Fantasia” animation sequences by Eric Drooker, who worked with Ginsberg in real life on an illustrated edition of his poems. Then there are the extracts from an interview Ginsberg is giving to a journalist about his life and work, which is recreated from various such interviews Ginsberg gave in real life over the years and finally there are the trial scenes, where the prosecution (David Strathairn) fights to protect respectable America from what his side of the courtroom sees as obscene filth, while the defence (Jon Hamm) puts the case for truth and freedom of speech in literature. There are also effective cameos from Mary Louise Parker as a Mrs Grundyish English teacher and Jeff Daniels as a pompous college lecturer, both claiming that Howl has no literary merit and Treat Williams as another academic and critic, who is a witness for the defence. At the centre of the film is Franco, very good as Ginsberg, a young man troubled by his insecurities and homosexuality – something which was illegal at that time – and yet totally articulate and confident when it comes to his work.
This is a very original piece of film making, which has all the appearance of being a devoted labour of love made on a shoe string with generous support from its star names, who believed in what it was doing. And as an examination and illumination of an important piece of American literary history and its context, I don’t see how it could have been done any better.
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