The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg (Deluxe Two-Disc Set)
by Jerry Aronson
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Actor: Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg, Joan Baez, William F. Buckley, William S. BurroughsDirector: Jerry Aronson
Cinematographer: Jean de Segonzac
Cinematographer: Richard Lerner
Cinematographer: Roger Carter
Editor: Jerry Aronson
Producer: Jerry Aronson
Editor: Antony Cooper
Editor: Nathaniel Dorsky
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-17
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Yorker Video
DVD Reviews of The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg (Deluxe Two-Disc Set)
DVD Review: Ginsberg
Summary: 5 Stars
For anyone familiar with Allen Ginsberg's work, this set is a great introduction to his life and times. To someone not familiar with his work, it is an excellent introduction to one of America's great poets, in the tradition of Walt Whitman. To someone who is curious about the "Beat" generation, this is a great inroduction to some of the best-known names of that time. Well worth the money, and well worth several viewings.DVD Review: From "Howl" To OM
Summary: 4 Stars
Recently I have been in a "beat" generation literary frame of mind. It all started last summer when I happened to be in Lowell, Massachusetts on some personal business. Although I have more than a few old time connections with that now worn out mill town I had not been there for some time. While walking in the downtown area I found myself crossing a small park adjacent to the site of a well-known mill museum and restored textile factory space. Needless to say, at least for any reader with a sense of literary history, at that park I found some very interesting memorial stones inscribed with excerpts from a number of his better known works dedicated to Lowell's "bad boy", the "king of the 1950s beat writers, Jack Kerouac. And, just as naturally, when one thinks of Kerouac then Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Neal Cassidy and a whole ragtag assortment of poets, hangers-on, groupies and genuine madmen and madwomen come to mind. So that is why we are under the sign of one Allen Ginsberg.
As I pointed out in recent review of a film documentary about the life of Jack Kerouac, "What Happened To Kerouac? (which I gave a five-star rating to, by the way) I was just a little too young to be directly influenced by the "beats", and just a little too driven by the quest for political solutions for what ailed me and what I thought ailed this society. Nevertheless, as I recounted in that review entitled, "On The Road" And On The Sidelines", after I came of political age I kind of crept back, like a million other members of the "Generation of `68" and re-evaluated that influence. In short then, starting with Kerouac's "On The Road", through William Burroughs "Naked Lunch" and on to Ginsberg's madman-like, but provocative, "Howl" and sensitive "Kaddish" I devoured every "beat" thing I could get my hands on.
And that last sentence is a good place to start in reviewing this one and one half hour production about the trials and tribulations, the fight for literary recognition and the journey of discovery of one hell of a beat poet, Allen Ginsberg. The film speeds through the now rather familiar saga (for that generation that was born between World War I and II and formed the core of what is deemed "the greatest generation") of a dysfunctional Jewish immigrant family, additionally burdened by a very overwrought and frequently institutionalized mother. The real story for our purposes, however, starts in 1940s New York where some very alienated youth like Ginsberg, Kerouac, Holmes, etc. and their mentors like Burroughs meet up and start a quest, literarily and physically, to `discover' America. And they do it on their terms, at least for a while.
Along the way Ginsberg becomes very aware of his innate poetic skills, his previously submerged sexual orientation and his almost surreal sense of the absurdities of living in post-war America, at least on the "squares" terms. Things begin to happen though. His "Howl" is premiered in San Francisco in 1956 to critical acclaim, Kerouac's "On The Road" finally gets published to rave reviews and suddenly in Eisenhower's America it becomes almost a rite of passage for the young to show up at some poetry reading in some smoky caf?, or dress in the de rigueur black, or like black-driven jazz. And that is where my generation and I come in. That is where, if nothing else, we owe a debt to the beats- and to the king hell beat poet who, unlike Kerouac who couldn't, or wouldn't, make the transition, came over with us when we started pushing back.
And that is the positive side of the Ginsberg story, the ability to transition, as least partially, as the leftward cultural currents shifted. I would not, and I believe psychologically could not, go on that psychic consciousness-raising trip that led him to Buddhism for a while. Moreover, in viewing the film of his role in the 1968 Democratic Convention as a messenger of tranquility only brought the hard fact that that was not the way to fight the monster home. But, I was then as I am now very indulgent toward the poetic spirits, the protest song singers, and the other cultural figures who "rage against the monster", politically correct or not. What bothered me more than anything though was Ginsberg's fate in his later career when he was no longer front and center in the public eye. In one of the many Ginsberg interview segments that dot this documentary, which was produced in 1994 just a few years before he died he notes, I believe while he is reciting one of his poems that one of his life achievements that he was proud of was that his had become a distinguished professor (I assume, of literature) at Brooklyn College. That is an unpardonable sin Brother Ginsberg. Where did you go wrong?
Note: One of the great things about this documentary, from a personal perspective, were the great number of evocative photographs, including many taken by the closet "shutter-bug" Ginsberg himself, of various personalities of the "beat" generation that I had not seen before like the young Ginsberg, Burroughs (was he ever young?), Cassidy and Kerouac. Additionally, for poetry buffs, there are number of segments included where Ginsberg read from his works (and with his poet father in join readings, as well). You do not know how really good and provocative "Howl" and "Kaddish" are as poems of rage and remembrance, respectively, until you hear his readings
DVD Review: Oh the questions of a thousand dreams, what you do and what you see
Summary: 4 Stars
This is quite an interesting perspective of Allen Ginsberg the man rather than the impact he had on wider society.
It is rather a pedestrian production in that the subject of the documentary cut a very unconventional figure, charismatic and radical whilst the film is straighforward in a temporal way and very focussed in straight terms.
Some of the highlights for me are the newsreel footage of major Beat figures who had such a huge influence on American literature specifically and on American society in general.
All in all it does display an interesting perspective on Ginsberg the man rather than Ginsberg the social actor but it is a worthwhile effort nevertheless.
DVD Review: "A Genius for Self-Promotion."
Summary: 3 Stars
So stated Roger Kimball in his immaculate book, The Long March, concerning the subject of this documentary. From everything I've ever read about Allen Ginsberg, the one enduring fact of his life is that he always manifested a genius for self-promotion. The likes of Kerouac and Cassidy detrained into the swamp yet he managed to redefine himself and become one with whatever movement or era would have otherwise passed him by. He was a natural magnet for attention and made full use of whatever talents he had. Indeed, the man surpassed every expectation based on his potential. I thought this was a solid documentary and found the footage of his father to be quite interesting. Ginsberg once boasted that he'd get us through our children, and, based on the cultural devastation that is 2008, events proved him correct. Never underestimate the power of destruction and only fools underestimated Allen Ginsberg. DVD Review: poet and muse Allen Ginsberg (Deluxe Two-Disc Set)
Summary: 4 Stars
The extraordinary life and times of Allen Ginsberg are profiled in this straightforward tribute documentary. I can't recall gaining any new insights or knowledge of Ginsberg, *but* I had already done my homework on the Beats and all that when, like so many others, I was a fascinated teenager. What I did experience was again being made aware of how much Ginsgerg's life connected with and that it was better through his having been a part of it. Not only was he a Beat poet but a great muse to many, many artists. I dare say I find that aspect of his life the most interesting. America is better because Ginsberg lived. He was a peacemaker, an activist, and a really nice and lovable guy. This film serves as a solid introduction to the famous countercultural icon's story as it is told with ample footage and through many interviews with his many famous friends and admirers: Beck, Bono, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Johnny Depp, Hunter S. Thompson, Andy Warhol, Patti Smith, Joan Baez, Michael McClure, Norman Mailer, Amiri Baraka, Ken Kesey, William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Anne Waldman and Timothy Leary... Excerpts of discussions with William Buckley and Dick Cavett are also included. The DVD set includes over 6 hours of extras. Must have for fans.
Description of The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg (Deluxe Two-Disc Set)
The life & work of allen ginsberg the greatest of the beat generation poets is put in focus in this film. Studio: New Yorker Films Video Release Date: 07/17/2007 Run time: 84 minutesThe re-release of Jerry Aronson's biopic, The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, timed to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of "Howl," suits this wonderful documentary and proves Ginsberg central to all radical artistic and political movements of the past 60 years. The feature-length film, segmented by decade, provides ample footage of Ginsberg's life; but extras added into this package, including footage of his memorial and 35 interviews with artists inspired by the visionary poet--from Beck to Lawrence Ferlinghetti--solidify Ginsberg as an American cultural icon. The film unravels Ginsberg's obsession for life and death around his mother's nervous breakdown and his father's affinity for poetry. Interviews with Ginsberg from each decade, both amongst his Beat friends like Burroughs and Huncke, and later with talk show hosts William Buckley and Dick Cavett, show the author's progression from sexual politics in the '40s and '50s to the "politics of ecstasy" in the '60s and '70s, when he founded the Flower Power movement with Tim Leary, and later, Naropa Institute. Ample footage of Ginsberg's stepmother provides a sensitive outsider's opinion on how he blossomed into one of the most spontaneous minds of the century. The film transcends simple Ginsberg descriptions by framing his life with historical happenings to contextualize the author's words and actions. The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg reminds the viewer that there is no better example of an artist devoted to a life of letters, activism, and idealism than the original beatnik. --Trinie Dalton
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