Her Two Cents: Predominantly known as a popcorn heartthrob for his box-office friendly films, James Franco has nonetheless always dabbled in more artistic roles, but none so abstract as his turn as trailblazing beat poet Allen Ginsberg, whose epic poem Howl was a driving force behind the liberation of literary censorship. Featuring content that today wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow, Ginsberg’s seminal poem was the subject of an obscenity trial in San Francisco, prosecuting its publisher for Howl’s vulgar language and depiction of heterosexual and homosexual sex, often as metaphors for his social and political views and predictions for 1950s America. Intermingled with dramatisations of the trial and Franco-as-Ginsberg’s musings on his life and work, the poem in question manifests itself in a series of desolately haunting animations, reminiscent of the animated sequences in Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Franco in a beard does not bear a strong physical resemblance to Ginsberg himself, but his presence is certainly remarkable, reciting Howl with the inflection of an affected evangelical minister, though his words are far more poignant.  With supporting performances from John Hamm, Jeff Daniels and Bob Balaban, co-writers/co-directors Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein’s (The Times Of Harvey Milk) knack of provocatively depicting the revolutionary fringe events of history continues to attract attention from the film world and the public alike, and deservedly so, and while this might prove perhaps a little vague for those who missed the Beat era, it maintains the style and spirit that Ginsberg and his fellow angel-headed hipsters would be proud to see celebrated after so many years.

Kat McCarthy

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