09.24.10
A.O. Scott of The New York Times lauds, “Howl does something that sounds simple until you consider how rarely it occurs in films of any kind. It takes a familiar, celebrated piece of writing and makes it come alive.”
Like critics across the country, A.O. Scott also raves about James Franco’s performance: “That power is manifested, above all, in Mr. Franco’s performance, which undoes (like Ginsberg himself, in person and on the page) any easy distinction between candor and guile. Reading in a San Francisco coffeehouse, Ginsberg is bold and diffident, smiling at his own bravado and wit and capturing a spirit that is oracular and playful in equal measure. He is a nervous young man in a white button-down shirt, a refugee from the Ivy League, the middle class and a New York mental institution, and also someone who has found in himself, almost by surprise, a wellspring of ecstatic inspiration.” Read the entire review here.
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