Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman / USA 2010 / 85 minutes / 15

GFF @ GFT, Fri 18th, Sat 19th Feb (21:15)

Part biopic, part courtroom drama, part animated rendering of Allen Ginsberg’s (James Franco) incendiary, sexually charged, generation defining poem, you’d think the last things Howl to be are dull and inconsequential.

Intercutting everything from the influences on and creation of Ginsberg’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece to the 1957 obscenity trial that followed its publication, it seems that writer/directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have decided to tackle a dizzying amount whilst fully addressing nothing with a bafflingly brief screen-time.

The account of Ginsberg’s relationship with Jack Kerouac (Todd Rotondi) and Neal Cassidy (Jon Prescott) and their huge influences on his work is infuriatingly slight. Choosing to cover these black and white sequences of Ginsberg’s early life with a voice-over, Kerouac and Cassidy are essentially set decoration and barely manage a line between them. The courtroom scenes are mundane, pivoting on the central lawyer, played by Jon Hamm, who yet again proves himself an empty suit when removed from Mad Men.

The only saving grace is, predictably, the readings of the poem – the power of which is undiminished. Franco’s performance as Ginsberg is at its least irritating when simply reciting his work at Six Gallery; during an interview segment he has appropriated all Ginsberg’s affectations and eccentricities of speech without incorporating anything of the man himself; it feels more like an impression rather than the channelling of a literary icon.