Howl

I've seen the greatest minds of my generation....




Heard that line before?  Good!  You know what I'm talking about.

Back in the 50's there was this social movement called beat.  I know little to nothing about it.  I'm not going to pretend like I do.  I do know everyone always recommends I check out things from that generation. Truth is? I rarely dig it.  But the other night I stumbled across this with my new girlfriend and we watched it together.  I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it before considering I paid attention to movies still back then but I guess it slipped through the cracks.

Basically, a poem was published by Allen Ginsberg called Howl.  Howl is a cry from the bottom of society.  From the gutter.  From a gay forward thinking author in a time that was accepting of neither of those things.  It spawned a trial that helped define the meaning of obscene when it comes to literature being published in 'Murica.  I haven't researched the accuracy of the movie or anything, but I imagine it was pretty close to realistic given the timeframe and actual interviews and court transcripts were used to write the script.

The movie jumps between interviews with Ginsberg/scenes of his life, readings of Howl accompanied by some stellar looking but not quite resonant animation, and the courtroom debating the literary merit of the poem itself.  It all works out to a rather quick 80 minute drama-faux documentary.  Lots of actors you love are in it: James Franco, John Hamm (as Don Draper in a courtroom basically.  It was still fantastic), Mary Louise-Parker, and Jeff Daniels.

But something just didn't work about this movie.

You're making a film about an emotional subject.  A controversial subject.  A subject that SHOULD resonate throughout the generations and give stellar imagery, ethos, pathos, all that classic stuff that makes a good movie.  The animation parts should've had an interconnected feeling so deep that I can no longer separate the words from the imagery.  This movie despite it's best efforts never came close.  You knew the entire time the judge would side with Ginsberg.  There was no suspense or building of character.  The animation while beautiful rarely surprises or gives a striking image.  Just "here it is."  I should've been standing, cheering, screaming at the screen at the end when the judge vouched for the merit of Howl.  But I was just like "huh ok."  The entire thing came out flat, like if an encyclopedia article about Allen Ginsberg had been filmed with Hollywood actors.  At that point, Why not just make a documentary?

That being said?  I've seen worse movies.  This is an interesting little bit of history and if you know little about it, this a pretty palatable 80 minutes to start your exploration of the Beat movement.  Give it a look if you've got nothing better to do

Not one of the best minds of his generation,
-Oz