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Modern
Orthodox

Ginsberg: The Film Version

A bold attempt to find a visual language for
the Beat poet's "bop Kabbalah" rhythms.

George Robinson
Special to the Jewish News

A

bout halfway into Howl, the edgy, thought-
ful docudrama by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey
Friedman, you begin to realize that, in his
uncanny re-creation of Allen Ginsberg's speech and per-
formance rhythms, James Franco is beginning to edge
into a series of incantatory rhythms not unlike that of a
Chasid in the throes of ecstatic prayer.
It's a telling moment, keenly observed, that places
Ginsberg not only in the chain of tradition of that master
of the long line, Walt Whitman, but in the wake of the same
waves of Chasidism that Whitman himself apparently knew.
And when Franco/Ginsberg describes his writing as
seeking "a rhythmic articulation of feeling" that begins in
the pit of the stomach and travels with the breath to the
head and mouth, he is, wittingly or not, describing the same
combination of breath and prayer that other Jewish mystics
have invoked.
That's not to say Epstein and Friedman think Ginsberg
was a closet Lubavitcher. It is clear from Howl that
Ginsberg wasn't in any closet you can name. It is his
greatest strength as a poet, writer and human being that
Ginsberg was utterly, nakedly himself. It is one of the
greatest strengths of this adventurous, if not always fully
realized film that Franco's performance, always front-and-
center, has the same kind of fearless honesty that the poet
himself had.
Howl is experimental in the best sense, a bold attempt
to find a visual language and rhythmic patterns equiva-
lent to the title poem's thrumming, urban beat, its soi-
disant"bop apocalypse" and "bop Kabbalah."
The film is held together by three distinct motifs, each
with its own visual grammar.
The story of Ginsberg's creation of the poem is told
through a series of scenes of the poet being interviewed

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I

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

Mostly SNL

Jesse Eisenberg, 27, will host
Saturday Night Live 11:30 p.m. Jan.
29 on NBC.
Eisenberg, who starred as
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberq,
26, in the hit film
The Social Network,
was nominated
but didn't win the
Golden Globe for
that role. But he's
also up for a Screen
Actors Guild Award
Gwyneth
for the part and

Paltrow

40

January 27 2011

by an unseen interlocutor,
James Franco as Allen
bathed in an almost golden
Ginsberg in Howl
yellowish-green sunlight.
These sequences are juxta-
posed with black-and-white footage of him reading from
Howl and color re-creations of moments from the obscen-
ity trial of the poem's publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, in
something like sepia-tone.
Epstein and Friedman make cunning use of animated
sequences to take the film's visual design to a higher level,
invoking visual elements picked up from the poem itself.
It's a spirited and courageous choice, particularly for a
couple of filmmakers who have made their reputations in
nonfiction film.
Ironically enough, Drooker's animations and the pyro-
technics of the film's overall structure make the tradition-
ally fact-based scenes in the courtroom seem a bit stodgy
by comparison, and while the sparring between Jon Hamm
as Ferlinghetti's razor-sharp lawyer Jake Erhlich and David
Strathairn as the almost child-like prosecutor, is occasion-
ally amusing, it doesn't seem to fit the rest of the film.
As a result, one has the rather odd feeling that those
sequences, ostensibly the film's raison d'etre, were grafted
on as an afterthought, the "socially redeeming value"
needed to please would-be censors. As a result, Howl falls
a bit flat as a defense of freedom of expression.
On the other hand, in its echoing of Ginsberg's defiant
acceptance of his sexual orientation as "a catalyst for self-
examination ... and the reasons why everyone else is dif-
ferent," the film is a splendidly unconventional anthem for
outsiders and outcasts of every stripe. II

Howl screens 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan.
28-29, and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4:30
p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4-6, at the Detroit Film Theatre in
the Detroit Institute of Arts. $6.50-$7.50.
(313) 833-4005; tickets@dia.org .

seems pretty sure to get an Oscar
nomination.
The Jan. 7 SNL episode featured
a funny bar mitzvah sketch that you
can see on YouTube: http://tinyurl.
comArnc4h9.
The premise is that three famous
singers perform at a bar mitzvah.
Gwyneth Paltrow's impression of
Taylor Swift was the best of the
three and included some clever
Jewish-reference lyrics.
Paltrow is scheduled to appear on
the NBC family roots show Who Do
You Think You Are? later this season.
Hopefully, the show will explore
the Jewish side of her family, which
includes her second cousin Gabrielle
Giffords. The Arizona congresswom-

Ronelle Grier
Special to the Jewish News

M

odern Orthodox is as
light and fluffy as my At times, three's a crowd
grandmother's mat-
zah balls. Written by Daniel Goldfarb
and directed by Aaron Moore, the
play focuses on a contemporary
Jewish couple whose lives are disrupted and ultimately
changed by an unlikely catalyst named Hershel Klein, an
intrusive and somewhat abrasive diamond salesman.
The story, which is more reminiscent of a sitcom
than an Off-Broadway comedy, depicts the underlying
prejudice between observant and secular Jews. This is
most obvious in the opening scene, when Hershel (Aral
Gribble) meets financial consultant Ben Jacobson (Scott
Crownover), who has decided to buy an engagement ring
for his live-in girlfriend of six years.
When Hershel asks Ben what kind of Judaism he prac-
tices, Ben says, "Whatever you call a High Holiday Jew"
Hershel's response,"A gentile sparks an ongoing sparring
match between the two men about the merits of being a Jew
who practices his beliefs instead of merely professing them.
In a rather implausible plot turn, Hershel shows up seek-
ing refuge at the apartment of Ben and his bride-to-be,
Hannah Ziggelstein (Christina Flynn), a hard-working
obstetrician who has little patience for Hershel and his
demands for kosher food and lights off during Shabbos.
Flynn and Crownover are skillful in their portrayal
of a modern urban couple who respect their heritage
but don't have the time or interest in practicing its finer
points. Gribble is appropriately obnoxious as Hershel,
pacing and talking so incessantly that Hannah and Ben's
irritation at his presence is completely understandable.
The highlight of the show is JET intern Kat Grilli, who
plays Hershel's Internet love interest, Rachel Feinberger.
She is feisty and funny on their first date, covering top-
ics ranging from marriage to masturbation. 1 1

REVIEW

JET presents Modern Orthodox through Feb.13.
(248) 788-2900; www.jettheatre.org .

an's father and Paltrow's father were
first cousins — both descended from
Lithuanian rabbis.
SNL creator Lorne Michaels, 66,
will be a guest on Oprah Presents:
Master Class 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 30,
on OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network),
with many repeat showings. He'll
share stories and insights.
The SAG Awards
also air 8 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 30, on
TNT and TBS. Acting
awards will be pre-
sented and are voted
on by the actors'
peers. The film cat-
Gabrielle
egory Jewish nomi-
Giffords
nees are Eisenberg;

James Franco (127 Hours) and Hailee
Steinfeld (True Grit).

Film Note

Opening Friday, Jan. 28, is the
violent film thriller The Mechanic.
Jason Statham stars as Arthur
Bishop, an elite assassin. His men-
tor, Harry (Donald Sutherland), is
murdered, and Bishop wants revenge.
Complications ensue
when Harry's son
Steve (Ben Foster,
30) wants to team
up with Bishop to
revenge his dad's mur-
der and asks Bishop
to teach him the
assassin's trade. ❑
Ben Foster