HOWL

• Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
• Writer: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
• Cast: James Franco, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels
• Theatrical Release Date: September 24, 2010
• Criticwire: B-
• On The Web IMDB Entry

Synopsis: 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. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman navigate a seamless segue from their documentary roots to masterful storytellers. They expand the notion of how a "true story" can be realized on film by not simply relying on facts but enlisting cinematic vision to capture the Zeitgeist of an era. The amazing cast provides the extra passion and urgency that are sure to introduce HOWL to the best minds of a new generation. [Synopsis courtesy of Sundance Film Festival]