People will never forget how you make them feel. And in that respect, Allen Ginsberg will live forever.
In "Howl," one of 2010's best films, documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman effortlessly combine literary animation, courtroom controversy and dramatized interview footage - and an all-star cast - to tell the story of the iconic poem, the 1957 obscenity trial that resulted, and the genius who wrote it.
Ginsberg led a fascinating youth - punctuated by mental hospital stays, his mother's lobotomy, and a stint as an adman - but a standard biopic would have felt inadequate. "It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it," the song goes, and here it's not the signposts and turning points in Ginsberg's life, but how he translates his experiences to paper.
As defense attorney Jake Ehrlich, Jon Hamm proves his considerable acting chops with a stirring argument on the nature of literature and obscenity, and the essentialness of literature to a truly free society, that made me want to look up the court transcripts so I could commit it to memory.
But "Howl" is James Franco's tour de force. Franco commits one hundred percent to the persona of an icon in his younger days. Not much footage exists of 29-year-old Ginsberg, but Franco is so convincing that he could fool the audience into thinking otherwise.
With "Howl," both the poem and the film, comprehension isn't always key. As witness Mark Schorer (Treat Williams) effusively notes to the courtroom, "You can't translate poetry into prose. That's why it's poetry." Art is about experience, not analysis. "Howl" appeals to a base sense of self where love and sex are king and the rest is just details. Translated to celluloid fifty-plus years later, the words are breathtaking. That's all you need to know.