From Academy Award-winning documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, filmmakers behind celebrated queer classics like The Celluloid Closet and The Times of Harvey Milk, the 2010 docudrama Howl bends genres to depict the story behind the literary revolution that was Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.”
James Franco stars as a young Ginsberg on the precipice of making waves with his incendiary, culture-shifting poem.
The film takes us to a famous reading of “Howl” at the Six Gallery, a recreation of an unpublished interview allegedly given to Time in 1957 and the poem’s infamous obscenity trial.
We’re also witness to the beginnings of Ginsberg’s relationship with lover, Peter Orlovsky, played by “Gossip Girl” alum Aaron Tveit. Featuring an impressive supporting cast – including David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels, Treat Williams and Mary-Louise Parker – Howl offers up a fascinating and idiosyncratic portrait of an epic literary work and its iconoclastic creator.
Watch the trailer for Howl below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.
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