James Franco (127 Hours) stars as Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in Howl, following the creation and impact of Allen Ginsberg’s most celebrated work.
Stylistically innovative, with explicit sexual and drug-taking references, Ginsberg’s masterpiece electrified audiences and was published in San Francisco by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a bookshop owner dedicated to supporting new literature. In 1956 a copy was picked up by undercover police, who arrested Ferlinghetti and his store manager on the grounds of obscenity, eventually leading to a trial that drew national attention to the differences between the scandalised establishment and the voices of a new generation.
Franco is fantastic as the passionate and beleaguered Ginsberg, with an excellent supporting cast including Aaron Tveit as his lover, Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm as his lawyer, and Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn and Mary-Louise Parker as dissenting voices, who bring the turmoil of the time, and its frequently hilarious moments of hypocrisy, to life.
