Basquiat
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Movie Reviews of Basquiat
Movie Review: An exciting movie for the art appreciator
Summary: 4 Stars
Whether you're an artist like myself, or just someone who appreciates and enjoys fine art, you'll enjoy this biographical film of one of the art communities "bad boys". Whatever your position is on J.M. Basquiat, this movie sympathizes with him and takes you on an entertaining journey through his life: from his graffitti days on the streets to his last days of his life. Also check out "Pollock" (this is not as lighthearted of a movie though).Movie Review: Farewell to a meteoric artistic promise !
Summary: 4 Stars
The meteoric rise of the most irreverent artistic urban icon of the eighties - Jean Michael Basquiat - was portrayed with sincere affection by Julian Schnabel who conveyed a very objective feature of this living legend who died - like Jim Morrison - at 27. The heavyweight cast conforms a notable and worthy to watch movie.
In memory of Dennis Hopper.
Movie Review: Suprise!
Summary: 4 Stars
As a painter, I have read about Basquiat, and enjoyed his paintings very much...but to see his story come to life with the likes of Dennis Hopper, David Bowie, Christopher Walken and more...was very cool...I will watch this movie again and again...Movie Review: From street junkie to... umm... studio junkie...
Summary: 3 Stars
The film "Basquiat" details the rise of Jean Michael Basquait from graffiti "artist" living on the streets to a leading figure in the art community during the 80ies. I'm sure I am supposed to be commenting on the life of the homeless, drug addict, vandal who became a rich, drug addict, artist but first I want to point out some distracting errors in the film (not errors of Basquait's history, but distracting continuity errors).
Several times during the film Basquait left a building dressed one way and arrived at his destination with different colored clothes even though the trip was only supposed to be a few minutes. When Basquait discovers that Warhol is dead (in the middle of the eighties) there are clothing stores in the background that didn't exist until the nineties. When drawing a line through the aamco horse in Warhol's painting the line changes length from scene to scene, and the "Rene' 5:11" keeps disappearing and reappearing from scene to scene. It may seem nitpicky, but these were a bit distracting.
The film's self-indulgent nature was also a turn off. Julian Schnabel obviously thought very highly of this ego-centric junkie (as evidenced by attaching Saint-like attributes to Basquiat) and wants the viewers to do the same, but not being a fan of graffiti, modern art, junkies, the mentally ill, or egomaniacs I was left cold. The scenes of Basquait painting in his studio were the equivalent of watching someone throw open paint cans at the walls.
The film did, however, give a great glimpse into the smug, self-important, pretentiousness of the art world that was/is so over the top that in any other film it would have been considered parody. Also on the plus side is the performances, this film was loaded with stars who did magnificent jobs in becoming the characters they portrayed. The biggest standout was David Bowie who was just eerily convincing as Andy Warhol. The music is fantastic as well.
So despite all the negatives the film is watchable, even if you're a philistine when it comes to modern art.
Movie Review: Interesting
Summary: 3 Stars
The story of Jean Michelle Basquiat is probably pretty typical of a NYC artist during the period when Andy Warhol was famous for being famous. It touches lightly on the idea of art being a commodity and important only if "the right people" think it's important but nothing is concentrated on enough to make this anything more than a mediocre film. Not the art scene at the time,not the artists, not Basquiat's relationships and certainly no insight into his art. Actually, that's probably better left unknown. It has some historical merit but alot of the characters seem cliche even though they are supposed to be real people. And, I'm not sure what movie alot of reviewers were watching but David Bowie as Andy Warhol is atrocious. He is completely unbelievable and does what looks like Bowie might have done if he was trying to imitate Warhol for some friends.It's an unpolished one dimensional performance of a major character. The movie was of interest to me just to see what a "famous artist" was really like and how they became famous. Pretty standard though. More hype than talent.