'Howl' (or, "Why We Need More Actors Like James Franco")

Evening, all.

James Franco as Allen Ginsberg.

So, after Christmas I'll be doing a university project wherein I get to decide the sort of performance I create and what sort of group of people I create it with. My idea is based on the poetry of the Beat generation and, in doing some Googling around, I stumbled across the film 'Howl' starring James Franco as prolific and influential beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

I gave it a watch and was very pleased with what I saw.

Flitting between a reading of 'Howl' by Franco as Ginsberg in an underground coffee shop with an audience full of beat poets, (Kerouac et al) in 1955 and an interview in his apartment in 1957 it tells the story of the controversy surrounding the poem following its publication. Interspersed with some surreal and sublime animation it makes for a very entertaining viewing experience, however, at times it gets a little repetitive and has a tendency to feel as self indulgent as the poets themselves were guilty of being at times.

The use of black and white scenes inter-cut with full colour ones makes for a very pleasing, palatable experience for the view and Franco sparkles as the troubled poet. Franco, to this writer's mind is one of the best actors of the modern age and so often displays his talents even when performing in sub-par films, (think Spider-Man III).

Franco may seem like an odd choice for Ginsberg given Franco's strong jaw line and sharp cheek bones, however, while he may not resemble the poet closely he seems to capture his mannerism and idiosyncrasies with a studious glee so few actors possess these days.

Franco as James Dean.

Speaking of Franco and his wonderful performances, I'd strongly recommend watching "James Dean", the 2001 television film which pretty much began his career. As you may have worked out from the title, Franco plays James Dean and does so with utter relish and aplomb. I've watched and re-watched his performance as Dean a number of times now and it is really quite eerie how Franco seems to channel the late actor so perfectly that at times it feels as though you are, once more, watching the one true Rebel in the flesh.

Franco seems to be able to set himself apart from all the other would-be leading men, to assert himself as one of the few great character actors of his time, playing real people, James Dean and Allen Ginsberg and Aron Ralston with honesty, sensitivity and utter and complete devotion.

Three qualities which are, sadly, lacking from modern day Hollywood.

For those of you who wish to learn more about Franco and his art, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzrDNLZ5qBk

To buy "James Dean" go here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Dean-The-Movie-Franco/dp/B001P89A2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355683233&sr=8-1

To buy "Howl" go here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Howl-DVD-James-Franco/dp/B004OQJSK4/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1355683266&sr=1-1

To buy "127 Hours" go here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/127-Hours-DVD-James-Franco/dp/B004I5C3V2/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1355683287&sr=1-1

Thanks for reading, until next time.