Ghuznee Film Society Review: Howl

d. Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

Starring: James Franco

It’s a terrifying task in this day and age to pay high-budget homage to Ginsberg’s titular great work whilst infusing it with the roving spendour and the displaced sadness of the Beat Generation’s helmsmen. Enter James Franco, hot off the heels of making me think he couldn’t be any more engraved into my good books, channeling the poet with magnetic ease. A sterile retrospective this is not: The filmmakers have, with furious aplomb, fused interview-style exposition with court drama, with hyper-kinetic, psychedelic animation that perfectly encapsulates the frenzy of the poem. It all works out for the best and has you yearning for some more crazy holy 3 day benders with your very own Dean Moriarty.

9/10