Howl

Howl is a 2010 drama about the poet Allen Ginsberg and the controversy surrounding his poem of the same name. Set largely in San Francisco in the mid-1950s, it follows Ginsberg's early years, when a public reading of the work helped establish him as a voice of the Beat generation. After the poem was published, its explicit treatment of homosexuality and drug use led to an obscenity case brought in 1957, in which the publisher stood accused. The film moves between these threads: the events and relationships that shaped Ginsberg as a writer, an interview in which he discusses his life and his openness about his sexuality, the courtroom proceedings, and animated passages that interpret the poem itself rather than simply illustrating it.

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman directed and wrote the screenplay, with Elizabeth Redleaf producing. The film came after the pair's documentary The Celluloid Closet and before their later Lovelace. James Franco plays Ginsberg, and the cast includes Todd Rotondi, Jon Prescott, Aaron Tveit, David Strathairn as the prosecutor and Jon Hamm as the defense attorney.

Released in August 2010, the 84-minute film had a budget of about 5 million dollars and took roughly 1 million dollars worldwide, a modest return on its production cost. On IMDb it holds 6.6 out of 10 from around 14,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.5 from about 200 votes. The critics' rating of 6.3 from 109 reviews sits close to those audience scores.