Film Review: 'Howl'

As a film, this is a rare bird: a biopic that is actually more about Ginsberg’s ‘filthy’ poem 'Howl' than the artist’s life; and whilst that shouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, it does feel a bit like an opportunity missed as a result.

Ginsberg’s life story would hardly have required much Hollywoodizing- being as it is that of a young poet who falls in love with Kerouac, spends time in a psychiatric hospital, hangs out with junkies and writes songs with Bob Dylan; yet it takes a backseat here to poetry set to animation and the courtroom ‘drama’ of the obscenity trial- a ‘drama’ that in truth is actually about as dramatic as a mouse’s fart.

In fact, the lack of screen time devoted to Ginsberg’s life is doubly disappointing given that the multi-talented James Franco is so superb as Ginsberg. The poet wasn’t much of a looker; so the casting in his place of Time magazine‘s ‘Coolest Man Of The Year‘ James Franco (perhaps most familiar as Spiderman franchise tritagonist Harry Osborn) correctly raised a few eyebrows; but he is in his element here as the sexually repressed, awkward Ginsberg- even getting Ginsberg’s Top Cat-ish voice down to a tee. It’s just a pity all his good work is limited primarily to a static interview situation that does little justice either to the biography of the poet or the sprawling, hallucinatory nature of his poetry.

If truth be told, ‘Howl’ shoots for four very different hoops- a Ginsberg biopic, a poetry recital, an archive-style interview and a courtroom drama- but largely misses all four; primarily because, for all Franco‘s brilliance, we‘re only a few clicks away from watching the real thing on YouTube anyway. Any one looking for a beat revival at the cinema would, it seems, be far better placed waiting for the upcoming ’On The Road’. 4/10