as an english major, my favorite classes were those centered around american literature of the 1950s. more specifically, i fell in love with anything that came out of the beat generation. kerouak, burroughs and ginsberg defined the last two years of my college experience. so when i found out they made a movie about the infamous obscenity trial of my favorite poem, HOWL by allen ginsberg, i made the film a priority of the weekend.
interweaving clips of a poetry jam, courtroom cross examinations, anecdotes and interviews, the film is intermittently interrupted with illustrations personifying different stanzas of the poem. featuring a brilliant performance from james franco (and a cameo from don draper himself), HOWL was a beautiful yet jagged screenshot of an inspired writer and his muses.
and the beat goes on,
-t
