Aaron Tveit and James Franco as life long couple Peter Orlovsky and Allen Ginsberg.

James Franco gives a brilliant performance as Allen Ginsberg. Although the actor is movie star handsome whereas the poet was not, Franco manages to physically embody the nebbishy charm of Ginsberg, including his Jewish New York accent. He carries nearly the entire movie on his shoulders and deserves an Oscar nomination for his effort.

Howl is told in 4 different sections that are intertwined together and its script is taken from actual court testimony, interviews with Ginsberg and the poem itself.

One section is of Ginsberg speaking about his life and work in 1957 during the time his publisher was on trial for obscenity charges for the publication of Ginsberg’s subversive poem Howl. Interspersed with this are flashbacks (in black & white) of Ginsberg’s early days as a Beat poet, mixed in with scenes from the obscenity trial and surreal animated scenes over which excerpts of the titular poem are spoken by Franco/Ginsberg.

By today’s standards the language in Howl is incredibly tame. In 1955, when it was first published, it caused quite a scandal. Its use of overt sexual imagery of both the straight and gay variety and street vernacular shocked the senses of many in academia and led to the attempted censorship of the work through the court system.

The impressive supporting cast includes Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm and Treat Williams among others. But this is truly a one man show for Franco. Add Howl to his already impressive body of work.

The movie manages to make poetry seem cool. The animated sequences really bring Howl to life. This is poetry as protest. It is alternately sad, angry, sexy, vulgar and ultimately triumphant. Ginsberg gets the last laugh. What was criticized and challenged in court as having no lasting literary merit is now considered to be one of the greatest poems of the 20th Century.

Howl makes a great introduction to the Beat generation and eloquently expresses the argument against censorship.
 

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