Ballad of the Skeletons
Ballad of the Skeletons
| 20 June 1997 (USA)
Ballad of the Skeletons Trailers

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg performs his Ballad of the Skeletons accompanied by music written by Paul McCartney and Philip Glass.

Reviews
BelSports

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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Robert Joyner

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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Sameer Callahan

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

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Yash Wade

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

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Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)

This roughly four-minute long short-film was shot by Academy-Award nominated director Gus van Sant shortly before famous poet Allen Ginsberg died. It's Ginsberg reciting a poem which included all kinds of American demographics summarized in one sentence for each group. It's more funny than meaningful obviously, but still there's a certain truth behind it most of the time. Also it looked like Ginsberg was having a great time. At the same time, we see images of people (Clinton, Gingrich etc.) and events with certain historic significance, mostly from American history, but also from abroad.It's an entertaining little piece and I think it's worth the watch. It may have started to drag if it had been 2-3 minutes longer, but this way it was just perfectly fine.

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nealvelgos

Having just seen this approximately four minute film on the big screen, I am awash in admiration. A close-up of Allen Ginsberg reciting his "skeletons" poem is bluescreened and dissolved against archival film and video clips, and backed by musicians to create a sort of song that becomes an American anthem. These clips predominantly feature images of the Dole/Clinton presidential campaign, but also include familiar and disturbing 1960s civil rights conflicts. The immediacy of Ginsberg looking and speaking full-on into the camera, to us, is striking and impossible to forget.What does it mean? I wish I could watch it again and decide. Surely Ginsberg and Van Sant have produced more meaningful work separately, but the combination with the music makes a brilliant whole. This is an extension of Van Sant's 1991 filmic version of William S. Burroughs' Thanksgiving poem, and the two short films are weird and poignant tributes to these great writers.

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