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Poster for Howl

Howl

2010 · 84 min

A thoughtful, layered portrait that blends courtroom drama, literary history, and expressive animation into a stirring tribute to artistic freedom.

Genres
Drama
Tagline
The Obscenity Trial That Started a Revolution. The Poem That Rocked a Generation.
Overview
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.

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Genres
Drama
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • earneststrength 3 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • upliftingstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • freedom
  • identity
  • art
  • justice
  • sexuality
Places
  • big city
  • workplace
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
  • true story
  • animated
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror1
Humour2
Realism8
Romance3
Tension5
Darkness4
Complexity7
Emotional weight7

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Cast

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Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
Written by
Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
Starring
James Franco, Todd Rotondi, Jon Prescott, Aaron Tveit, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Andrew Rogers, Bob Balaban
Music
Carter Burwell
Cinematography
Edward Lachman
Runtime
84 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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