HOWL (on Blu-ray 1/4/11)
James Franco gives a career-defining performance as the young Allen Ginsberg--- poet, counter-culture adventurer, and chronicler of the "Beat Generation"in HOWL, the audacious film from Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Franco as Ginsberg recounts the road trips, love affairs, and search for personal liberation that led to the most timeless, electrifying, and controversial work of his career: Howl. Pushing the limits and challenging the mainstream, the passionate and provocative Howl and its publisher found themselves on trial for obscenity, with prosecutor Ralph McIntosh (David Strathairn) setting out to have the book banned, while defense attorney Jake Ehrlich (Jon Hamm) fervently argues for freedom of speech and creative expression. The proceedings veer from the comically absurd to the passionate as a host of unusual witnesses (Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, Treat Williams, Alessandro Nivola) pit generation against generation and art against fear in front of conservative Judge Clayton Horn (Bob Balaban). BONUS FEATURES: James Franco in conversation with directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman an all new feature length audio commentary; Holy! Holy! Holy! Making of Howl featuring directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, stars James Franco, John Hamm, David Strathairn, Treat Williams, Bob Balaban, poet Anne Waldman, and others; Director™ research tapes andiginal interviews with Ginsberg' friends and collaborators Eric Drooker, Peter Orlovsky, Tuli Kupferberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Steven Taylor; Allen Ginsberg reads Howl â€" never before seen footage from a performance in 1995 at the Knitting Factory in New York; James Franco reads Howl audio feature; Allen Ginsberg reads Sunflower Sutra and Pull My Daisy never before seen footage from a performance in 1995 at the Knitting Factory in New York; Q&A with directors Epstein and Friedman moderated by John Cameron Mitchell at the Provincetown Film Festival.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HARVEY MILK filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman make an ambitious leap to narrative film with this hybrid of live-action drama and animation. HOWL divides its focus between the real-life obscenity trial of the eponymous poem by Allen Ginsberg (James Franco) and the epic poem itself, which is brought to life in animated form. This film also stars David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels, and Mary-Louise Parker.
Howl Reviews:
"It's a heady flight into not just a particular poem but into the act of creativity itself, into how an artist breaks down barriers between himself and his art."-- Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
"Intelligent and highly respectful of its central character and his titular landmark poem....It's also an intriguing hybrid of documentary, narrative and animated filmmaking..."-- Todd McCarthy, Variety
"[E]ach of HOWL's individual parts is pretty good on its terms. Franco has Ginsberg's familiar intonation and mannerisms down." -- Grade:B-- Keith Phipps, A.V. Club
"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."-- A. O. Scott, New York Times
"[T]he directors' aim is true and occasionally hits its mark. Epstein and Friedman fuse elements of documentary, feature filmmaking, and animation to home in on how Ginsberg wrote HOWL, and why it made him famous."-- Michelle Orange, Movieline
"[T]he film of HOWL, like its source material, is undeniably brave, committed and inventive."-- Michael Ordona, Los Angeles Times
3 stars out of 4 -- "The film is above all about HOWL the poem. Ginsberg, played by James Franco with restraint and care, reads it as smoke fills a 1955 coffeehouse."-- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
3 stars out of 4 -- "James Franco delivers an impressive, beguilingly sensitive performance as the poet and Beat Generation avatar Allen Ginsberg in HOWL."Washington Post
