It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.
Acting
Franco's Ginsberg interview segments feel uncomfortably, brilliantly real.
Writing
Courtroom scenes that make obscenity law weirdly gripping.
Director
Jeffrey Friedman
James Franco
Allen Ginsberg
Jon Prescott
Neal Cassady
Aaron Tveit
Peter Orlovsky
David Strathairn
Ralph McIntosh
Jon Hamm
Jake Ehrlich
Andrew Rogers
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Bob Balaban
Judge Clayton Horn
Mary-Louise Parker
Gail Potter
Treat Williams
Mark Schorer
Jeff Daniels
Professor David Kirk
Alessandro Nivola
Luther Nichols
Allen Ginsberg
Self
Sean Patrick Reilly
Six Gallery
Alex Emanuel
Six Gallery
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The six-minute animated sequence took two years to complete and was directed by John Hays, who had never made a film before.
The real 1957 obscenity trial verdict—'Howl' not obscene—instantly made City Lights Booksellers a pilgrimage site that still operates today.
US
