I had heard that Daniel Radcliffe was going to play young gay poet Allen Ginsberg in his next film Kill Your Darlings, and when I found out that this film was about him, and his most celebrated but also controversial poem, I was intrigued to see what it would be like. Basically, set in 1957, San Francisco, the film examines the poem "Howl" being the focus of an obscenity trial, for it's frequent use of graphic language and references to homosexual, we also see the poem writer Allen Ginsberg (James Franco) interviewed, he was not afraid to admit his homosexuality, and his thoughts behind it, and throughout he reads extracts of the poem with animation illustrating the words. Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Andrew Rogers) as the publisher of the poem was the man on trial more than Ginsberg himself, prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh (David Strathairn) wants to justification as to why the poem was aloud to be published, and gets opinions literary experts, including literary critic/book editor Luther Nichols (Alessandro Nivola) and Professor David Kirk (Jeff Daniels), to defend it's credibility. In society "Howl" has become a literary revolution, part of the San Francisco Renaissance and a cultural phenomenon, and throughout the film passages from the poem accompanied by surreal animation of all sorts, computer animated and hand drawn to interpret, this only adds to the non-linear film construction, mixing 1940's and 1950's historical fact and a variety of other cinematic techniques. Of course young Ginsberg is seen throughout the film as well, mostly in black and white during his early interviews about his poetry and other literary work, doing public readings, including from "Howl", and his personal experiences of homosexuality and some struggles, that gave him the confidence to express himself, Ginsberg was not afraid to write whatever he wanted and created a literary masterpiece. Also starring Jon Hamm as Jake Ehrlich, Bob Balaban as Judge Clayton Horn, Mary-Louise Parker as Gail Potter, Treat Williams as Mark Schorer, Todd Rotondi as Jack Kerouac and Jon Prescott as Neal Cassady. I can see what the critics mean that the often laughable animation by street artist Eric Drooker maybe overshadows the sequences of Ginsberg and the courtroom scenes, but I don't think this is the case, it is certainly experimental the editing, but you definitely appreciate the subtle but interesting performance by Franco as young Ginsberg, I don't think this is the type of film I would see more than once, but it was an interesting drama based on a true story. Worth watching, at least once!