The Beat Hotel, a new film by Alan Govenar, goes deep into the legacy of the American Beats in Paris during the heady years between 1957 and 1963, when Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso fled the obscenity trials in the United States surrounding the publication of Ginsberg’s poem Howl. They took refuge in a cheap no-name hotel they had heard about at 9, Rue Git le Coeur and were soon joined by William Burroughs, Ian Somerville, Brion Gysin, and others from England and elsewhere in Europe, seeking out the “freedom” that the Latin Quarter of Paris might provide.
Reviews
That was an excellent one.
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.