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Allen Ginsberg's poem 'Howl' (1956) begins with the line "I saw the best minds of my generation". In this documentary, Ginsberg does witness that the 'beat generation' did indeed contain the best minds of his generation. The scope of the 'beats', the literary trends of which Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Gregory Corso were the most important representatives, did not limit themselves to one generation. In Maria Beatty's 'Gang of souls', young, self-willed characters like performance-artist/singer/writer Lydia Lunch, punk singer/poet Henry Rollins and rocker/author Jim Carroll talk about their work and relationship to the 'beats'. Ginsberg, Corso, Burroughs and their contemporaries like Ed Sanders, John Giorno and Diane Di Prima also appear. Although it appears to be a series of 'talking heads', the editing has given 'Gang of Souls' a surplus value.
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Erik Quint
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Camera: Troy Mattews, Ron McCarty, Light: Bob Bartow, Craig Hyman, Isabel Soffer, Jon Thoma, Editing: Christopher Martinez, Sound: Craig Hyman, Howard Ladd, Tom McCabe, Music: Bruce O. Bernardo II, With: William S. Burroughs, Jim Carroll, Gregory Corso, Production: Maria Beatty
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