Howl

For their first non-documentary feature, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman wrote, directed, and produced this fascinating and far-ranging "adaptation" of Allen Ginsberg's seminal poem, Howl. The filmmakers combine a reenactment of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's 1957 obscenity trial with a composite contemporaneous interview with Ginsberg (James Franco), which includes black-and-white flashbacks to the relationships he had with fellow writers Jack Kerouac (Todd Rotondi), Neal Cassady (Jon Prescott), and Peter Orlovsky (Aaron Tveit). These elements are combined with a portrayal of Ginsberg's first public reading of Howl, and vivid, striking animation of the poem based on Eric Drooker's artwork. It sounds scattershot, and the elements don't always come together fluidly. The animation, in particular, has a wildness that clashes with the relative staidness of the interviews and courtroom scenes, but it also adds a sense of anarchic energy appropriate to the source material. The reenactments themselves are exceptional, and the trial deals with First Amendment and creative issues that are still pertinent more than half a century later. Ginsberg's words—delivered in an astonishingly sensitive and thoughtful performance by Franco—have their own sense of timelessness. It all adds up to an exemplary explication of Ginsberg's life, work, and significance to our culture. Howl is a rarity—a great film about a writer writing.