Howl 2010

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: A Beat Generation biopic that makes you sympathize with the Man? That's just unholy. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Epstein and Friedman didn't write the film as much as assemble it, using actual interview quotes and court transcripts. And while the loose structure takes some getting used to, it's ultimately effective and at times thrilling. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Happily, Ginsberg's words still cut recklessly through the years. Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: The film forces us to face what a powerful poem "Howl" remains. That poetry isn't just pretty language, it has the ability to make us think about our lives, even to change our lives. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: How do you make poetry cinematic? "Howl,'' a new film about beat writer Allen Ginsberg, asks that question without realizing the question is backward. It should be: How do you make cinema poetic? Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The result, though clearly flawed, is passionate and ambitious, celebrating that long-gone era when a book of verse could spark a revolution in consciousness. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It's well-crafted, but I wish the film showed us an additional dimension or two of the central figure, who once said the great challenge in writing, any kind of writing, is "to write the same way you are." Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The language of that poem, which periodically pours out from the screen, is the best thing in the movie. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: It's about literature itself, the ways in which it works on the reader and the folly of applying some objective standard of decency and meaning to words on a page. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's sweet stuff, a portrait of an artist in turmoil, under fire and laying himself bare. Howl captures Howl beautifully. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Allen Ginsberg's revolutionary 1956 poem ''Howl'' -- a literary manifesto for the Beat Generation -- gets a great reading from modern-day beatnik-star James Franco, playing the poet with bebop passion. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Howl is very, very, good. Worth seeing if you love writing, if you've ever written, if you're intrigued by the creative process as a whole. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Howl is a disappointingly mundane movie about a vibrant, iconoclastic subject. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Howl is a movie with no clear narrative. It pushes boundaries and feels like one man's fever dream. But all those traits would certainly make Allen Ginsberg happy. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Milk meets Pink Floyd the Wall. Says everything it has to say in the first 20 minutes, then keeps repeating itself. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: An exemplary work of literary criticism on film, explaining and contextualizing its source without deadening it. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: There is no defining story of lasting importance here, so the directors opted for a small narrative, a lot of drawings and snippets of the trial. It's filled with graphics, but doesn't really amount to much of a film or an illumination of the man's life. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The bold, outspoken man of later days is seen here as still a middle-class youth, uncertain of his gayness, filled with the heady joy of early poetic success, learning how to be himself. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: It's done pretty well as a poem up till now, and more than once during Franco's reading, I simply closed my eyes and listened. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A film of passion and ambition, but one whose success is intermittent at best. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: By the time this movie's over, you've spent an hour and a half just working your way through the words of "Howl" and some related source material, and that turns out to be a surprisingly satisfying thing to do. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Despite James Franco's smart performance as poet Allen Ginsberg, this film rings hollow. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The best thing about the film Howl is the poem Howl. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: This is a bold, inspiring piece of work, putting experimental techniques in the service of a heartfelt, insightful and surprisingly audience-friendly work of art. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Admirable if fundamentally academic. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Splendid as Franco's literal characterization and overheated line readings can be, art director Eric Drooker's literal-minded animated interpretation of "Howl" are as sodden as a cold latke -- as well as a distraction. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: What could have been a trivial exercise in nostalgia instead becomes a powerful case for the cathartic power of art. Read more