Basquiat
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Movie Reviews of Basquiat
Movie Review: Great Contemporary Art Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
So happy to receive this Movie so promptly. It is entertaining, informative and fun to watch top notch people playing famous people in the Art World of the sixties.Movie Review: A very inspiring Film
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed it. Amazing story of the late artist. David Bowie as Warhol haha so good.Movie Review: Rise and fall
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a visually stunning film, very beautiful to see, which appears to capture the insanity of art world fame and fortunes.
The film opens with a young child Basquiat and his mother visiting Picasso's Gurnica, where the mother begins to cry while her son imagines a glowing crown upon his little head. It was images like this that are integrated throughout the film.
What is this film really about? Is it about the rise of a brash young outsider talent who bashes down the doors of fame but then crumbles under the spotlights? Is it about a virile and brave youth whose talents are sucked away by insider vampires of the in-crowd art world? Is it about a melancoly talented Black man who drifts into constant drug use as he becomes lost in the market place with no real compass (except Andy Warhol)? Is it about the trajectory of the hero which inevitably results in downfall and tragedy as a result of the fatal moral flaw that results in his undoing? The answer is "yes", it is all of this.
Jeffrey Wright, the brilliant actor from Syriana and Angels in America, does a super job playing Basquiat. Basquiat's creative style is reactive and compulsive, full of energy, full of chance and doodles and street drawings. It allows multimillionaires the opportuntiy to taste the funky hard vibrant streets while sitting comfortably in their park avenue apartments. Thus Basquiat became a commodity and the bidding war around him reveals the cut throat profit seekers of the art marketing world.
David Bowie is totally great as Andy Warhol. Warhol was a unique personality who actually becomes one of Basquiat's only mentors while simultaneously drawing from Basquiat's young energy. Carefully watch the scene where Warhol and Basquiat paint a large canvas together, and Warhol complains that Basquiat alters everything Warhol puts on the canvas.
Benicio Del Toro is super as Basquiat's home boy friend that finally breaks with his friend as Basquiat loses his bearings.
Parker Posey is stunning as Mary Boone, one character that does not come off well as she tries to lure Basquiat from another gallery to become her client.
Courtney Love, Willam DeFoe, Christopher Walken and others play small parts that keep the ball rolling throughout the film.
Sometimes bold talent arises from the masses, connected to this or that personality. Sometimes that personality thrives and retains their center of gravity and sometimes that personality disintegrates. This young Black man disintegrates and the social forces that contribute to that fall make for a fascinating film.
Movie Review: Basquiat
Summary: 4 Stars
This is definitely one of my favorites. This film was the work of a fellow factory artist Julian Schnabel. Julian wrote and directed the film. All of the paintings in the film were Schabel's representations of Basquiat's work.
This movie is outstanding. The audience is presented with a very real view of the artist's life. Although it seems sketchy at times, the air of confusion and/or paradox, adds to the film. The only true flaw is that we are not able to see a deeper side of Basquiat. Buit again, this is the interpretation by a man who may not have know him on that level.
There are numerous outstanding performances--a brilliant cast--all working for pennies.. Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Courtney Love, Jeffrey Wright and David Bowie.
Jefrey Wright's performance is alluring. He captures the essence of the artist which basically distracts you from the flaws of the film. The viewer gets lost in Wright as Basquiat once got lost in himself.
Bowie does a wonderful job of capturing Warhol's unique personality. It's almost frightening really. Perfect choice considering Bowie met him on several occasions.
Courtney Love's appearance is questionable. Although, I believe she is a representation of several women who came into Basquiat's life. Madonna?
The film throws quite a lot at you. The complicated relationships Jean-Michel had with various people and his absorbtion into drugs. He constant battles are not really seen as such but really almost presented in an innocent way. He seems as though he was a guy roaming the streets reacting to his environment. People get angry at him, shun him--yet at the same time call him brilliant. The film depicts his struggle with race issues and class issues which are the most fundamantal key issues of his art.
I highly recommend this film!
Movie Review: Gripping glimpse of the 80s NYC art scene
Summary: 4 Stars
"Basquiat" tells about 4 years of the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat, hit of the 1980s art world, from the days just prior to his fame to the peak of his success and the beginning of his decline into drugs. The film vastly simplifies his frenetic life, but does give a glimpse into the forces -- gallery owners, museum curators and sellers -- that shape the careers of new artistic discoveries. Basquiat found himself simultaneously pulling the levers of this system while it pulled his, each seeking maximum gain and notoriety.
Basquiat's friendship with pop-artist Andy Warhol is depicted, with David Bowie doing a wonderful impression of the eccentric older artist. Christopher Walken has a cameo as an attack interviewer, alternately praising and insulting Basquiat in order to get juicy tidbits. But Jeffrey Wright is a standout as the title artist, portraying him as a street-smart naif fascinated by self-expression. He is able to portray a man on hard drugs without resorting to caricature.
You don't have to be a fan of modern art, or of its post-modern and expressionistic offshoots to enjoy the film. Enough to know that some people see this material as worthy of collecting, showing or selling, whether from its intrinsic value, for its culture currency or for its sheer sellability. Basquiat's paintings continue to sell for enormous sums decades after his death. In some circles, that's enough to make one an important artist,. regardless of what the wider public thinks.
"Basquiat" does not go deep into the artist's life or provide a critique (positive or negative) on the world that spawns art. It did pique my interest in Basquiat and his work, and that's plenty.