Northwest Film Forum

The beats are alive and well thanks to a soaring performance by James Franco in Howl, a mesmerizing channeling of Allen Ginsberg, set in 1957 San Francisco as his poetic masterpiece is put on trial. Part hallucinatory animation, part courtroom drama, part period piece about the creation of the iconic beat poem and the censorship trial for obscenity that followed its 1956 City Lights publication, Howl is bred with unexpected life and energy. It affirms itself as a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment: the birth of a counterculture.

 

"Howl does something that sounds simple until you consider how rarely it occurs in films of any kind. It takes a familiar, celebrated piece of writing and makes it come alive." —NY Times

"Attempts several exciting things all at once, and you remember that biopics don't have to fit some awards-friendly formula. They can actually be ambitious experiments, too." —The Stranger

"Howl...is that rarity: a film that celebrates language. It's a unique blend of documentary, feature and performance art...effective and at times thrilling." —Seattle Times