Review of Howl (2010) by David Ray G — 28 Oct 2010

You are warned that my rating of this movie will be biased. I wouldn't make it objective by an means. Howl means so much to me as a poem that I couldn't possibly begin to explain; ditto the Beat generation. I've analyzed it line-by-line, done college assignments and given a speech on it in class. And I can say this much: this poem changed my life in so many ways. Ginsberg is my favorite poet, and the Beats connect me deeply and irrevocably to the dearest person in my life. So, yes, I'm prejudiced.

Friedman and Epstein changed the scenery of gay-related documentaries a long time ago: from The Times of Harvey Milk to The Celluloid Closet to Paragraph 175, they have condemned homophobia more than any other director(s). I'm so glad that they retained their "documentary" elements in this movie too, which is a "real" movie indeed.

I never really liked James Franco - but I'm changing my mind slowly. I appreciated him in Milk and was completely taken aback by his performance here. He was Ginsberg in many ways. The rest of the cast wasn't as successful: Cassady and Kerouac and Orlovsky in particular didn't strike much physical or personality resemblance to the actual guys. But all performances were great so I can't complain.

This movie is divided into "scenes." Different kinds of scenes. And I loved all kinds equally; they all added something to the whole and they gave the movie such unique tone and diversity to it. The animated poem enactment scenes were eye-popping and awe-inspiring, bringing memories from The Wall - these were my favorite, I think, just by a tiny bit. Because they brought it to life.

I could go on and on. Suffice it to say this is my longest review ever, so I am yapping obviously. This movie gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes. I just loved it to no end. I guess time proved that this poem does have "literary merit" after all.