Howl - A Litterary Journey

This is a very bizarre piece of cinema. Howl is an experimental film about the life and poems of Allen Ginsberg. The film combines live action footage with animated film clips. The action of the film takes place around the time in which Ginsberg was put on trial over the collection of poems named Howl, which shocked readers and was considered obscene on publication. The film stars James Franco as Ginsberg and Jon Hamm as one of his defence lawyers.

One of the bizarre elements of this film is that it has three separate storylines which are each told using separate cinematic and narrative devices. The first story is an interview with Ginsberg, in which he explains his creative process, his poetry and his life story, and his story is told in a series of flashbacks where he recounts his life with Peter Orlovsky, this segment has a cinematic uniqueness as it is told in black and white, which gives it a starkness and a retrospective quality, that is appropriate for the fact that this is a segment in which Ginsberg is recounting his life and talks about the past, the black and white also gives this segment a cinéma vérité feel, which also seems appropriate.

Ginsberg does not appear in the second segment, which takes place in a courtroom, and focuses on the 1957 obscenity trial in which Howl was accused of being obscene and of violating the united states' sodomy laws. Jon Hamm shines in this segment as Ginsberg's defense lawyer. Really this segment attempts to explore the controversial aspects of Ginsberg's work, whether the more erotic side of his work is simply shock value, of whether it hides a deeper meaning. This segment is in color, and can essentially be seen as the 'now' of the picture, as none of it takes place in flashback or fantasy.

The final segment portrays Ginsberg at the first public reading of Howl in San Francisco, this segment is unique in that it uses animation to tell the stories that Ginsberg portrays, the film uses a variety of animation techniques in order to portray Howl. The use of animation is efficient in that it allows the filmmakers to portray some of the more controversial aspects of the story, and yet allows us to remain emotionally detached.

Despite good performances from its lead; James Franco is stunning as Ginsberg, and manages to really get into the poets head, and manages to understand the creative process, and manages to be undeniably cool as Allen Ginsberg, yet I ultimately feel that the film falls short of it's ambitions, we really fail to connect with Ginsberg, despite understanding him, despite the fact that we understand his creative process, and understand why his poetry and his personamity make him the way he is, yet ultimately the film fails to show us Ginsberg's flaws, and the fact that we never fall with him means that he ultimately seems narcissistic and self involved, perhaps something to do with the fact that we listen to him talk about himself for eighty minutes.

In the end, despite an imaginative use of animation and an engaging performance by James Franco, this film fails to allow its audience to connect with it's main character, who ultimately seems simply self involved, yet it does provide an insight into the creative process of one of the great literary minds of a generation. Rating: B+ 

Allen Ginsberg: I started writing poetry cause I fell in love and needed to express my feelings.

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