Movie Recommendation of the Week : Howl

Howl is a biopic about the poet Allen Ginsberg; Howl is also the title of his most popular and controversial book. Starring James Franco, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels and a number of other familiar faces, this film reaches for the top bar and takes it. This film involves the censorship trial of Howl, all the while the poem which has caused this loud debate is read by James Franco throughout the film. For all you Broadway lovers, Aaron Tveit makes an appearance as Ginsberg's life partner Peter Orlovsky. 
There is a considerable amount of animation, which is meant to lend a hand to Ginsberg by displaying what he saw in his head while writing Howl. I loved the way the film was set up. Ginsberg would talk to his interviewer, then the trial would go over a part of the poem, which then Ginsberg would read in another clip, while the animation went. 
It was interesting how he explained his life in terms of the men that he fell in love with, each man was a different part of his life, an era. The film felt a lot like a documentary, because the same people who brought us "The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)", directed this movie as well. However, it wasn't a documentary, but the scenes were completely true to Ginsberg's reality. At the end of the film, there are pictures of him in the various places where during the film, Franco laid and sat, like him laying on the front steps of a building smoking or in front of his typewriter. 
Also at the end of the film, the various men that are mentioned as being part of Ginsberg's life, are talked about in detail as to what they have published and when they died. What is very interesting to me is that there is no mention of their last names during the movie. At the end of the film, one finds out that the Jack that Ginsberg was referring to was Jack Kerouac. 


Overall, I would say that it is a great film, something that I would watch again, and something that I recommend.


Thank you for reading, 
Now go watch. :)


P.S. Don't watch the film if you are uncomfortable with homosexuality.