Wow, wow, wow.

I finally got around to watching Howl, the movie made a couple years ago about Ginsberg’s poem, the obscenity trial (Ferlinghetti, the publisher, was the defendant, not Allen), and…and…..well, that’s where I had no idea.  This is an incredible portrayal of the artistic quest, the reaching to grasp that which is untouchable and express the ineffable, as well as the inner journey to know and to embrace ones’ self and soul.

The movie invites us deeply into the heart of the young Allen Ginsburg, via segments featuring his famous first reading of Howl, and a series of reflections posed as an interview in his apartment while the trial was taking place, in which Ginsburg shares bits of his life and glimpses of the passion and the craft behind his evocations of the holy mystery.

Howl is streamable on Netflix (where the “This Film Is” two-adjective description nails it: “Cerebral, raunchy”).  Go for it.