Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, the co-directors and co-writers of Howl - a film based on the poem of the same title by Allen Ginsberg - tackle that question for their latest challenge. To distill into the main character the spectrum of humanity, without avoiding and undermining the fact that his story is essentially to do with every aspect of life; give the poem center stage, yet not lose or overshadow all the biography in the quest of interpreting it in film form - covered by Crane.tv
"I started writing poetry because I fell in love and wanted to express my feelings..."
Ginsberg takes the shape of James Franco, who the directors met through the legendary Gus Vas Sant. Franco an artist, poet and student of literature was at a similar stage in life as Ginsberg in 1957, when he wrote his most epic poem. He mostly portrays the poet being interviewed or reciting; but it is in this, the passion and the intensity of the piece shines through. Combined with enthralling animation that plays during the sections where Howl is recited, the poem is translated into a far more graphic, beautiful and tragic form - giving it a whole new reality.
"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,"
Speaking of the obscenity trials and reaction of the public towards Ginsberg's verses, Epstein describes how similar principles still operate in our society today, "where people respond out of fear, try to legislate out of fear or create policy out of fear to prevent what they don't know or understand." Friedman continues, expressing that the film is also to contest, "what the role of the artists is and what the artist should or shouldn't be allowed to say." Being undisputedly topical discussions today, it is a exhilarating that we can come face-to-face with these in such a stunningly artistic and absorbing portrayal of such a momentous slice of literature in Howl.
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Text by Carmen Ho for Crane.tv
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I knew Ginsberg, so don't spew from a vacuum if that's all you got.