The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 3 nominations
Jean-Claude La Marre
- Shenge
- (as Jean Claude LaMarre)
Chuck Pfeiffer
- Tom Kruger
- (as Chuck Pfeifer)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat refused to allow his works to be used, so the director, Julian Schnabel, personally painted the reproductions which are used throughout the film.
- GoofsThe closing credits states that Basquiat died on October 12, 1988. The real date is August 12, 1988.
- Quotes
The Electrician: I'll be forty in July, and I'm glad I never got recognition. It gives me time to develop.
- Crazy creditsAt the very end of the credits, a short clip showing a surfer riding on a wave is displayed. It's very similar to the surfing/wave shots that Basquiat keeps seeing whenever he looks up to the sky during the movie, but it's in full color instead of being blue-tinted.
- SoundtracksFairytale of New York
Performed by The Pogues
Written by Shane MacGowan and Jem Finer (as Jim Finer)
Published by Perfect Songs/MacGowan Music/SPZ Music, Inc.
Courtesy of Warner Music UK Ltd.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products
Featured review
Err... Can we mention the unmentionable, please?
While the evocation of the 1980s, obvious passion for the artist's work and magnificent acting from the ensemble cast should have made this movie a '10', it has one fatal flaw: this film, Basquiat, dealing with a young man's struggle for identity, fails to mention or even hint at the fact that he had both female and male sexual partners. While I highly respect the acting ability of Jeffrey Wright (just check out his performance in Westworld), he was not only misdirected but simply miscast. To understand the real Basquiat, see the 2010 documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat - The Radiant Child. There, you see a cute, good-looking, charismatic, ambitious although introverted young man whom you could easily imagine receiving offers from men and women alike - and equally imagine the offers being taken up. The portrayal in the film, Basquiat, is of a slightly autistic, inarticulate, heterosexual boor with a 'junkie walk' before he was even a junkie. It is well documented that the artist David Bowes was a male lover of Basquiat's, and other characters from the era, some still alive today, attest that while living on the street he would often exchange sexual favors with both males and females for a place to sleep for the night; not uncommon practice for the homeless. I mention all this not to disrespect the memory of Jean-Michel as I'm actually a great fan of his. Let's instead respect him by honoring him truthfully and mentioning the unmentionable: male-to-male sexuality.
Directors and scriptwriters be damned; you spoil otherwise good movies. Just when will film-makers get over their homophobic paranoia? Why make a movie about Howard Hughs and not mention he had bedded most Hollywood leading men of his day? Why make a movie about Alexander the Great misrepresenting his life-long male lover and companion, and not mentioning his Persian male lover? Why make a film about Archilles and pretend that his male lover, whose death caused his downfall, was his platonic cousin? Why make a movie about Cole Porter and not mention anything? The list goes on.
Directors and scriptwriters be damned; you spoil otherwise good movies. Just when will film-makers get over their homophobic paranoia? Why make a movie about Howard Hughs and not mention he had bedded most Hollywood leading men of his day? Why make a movie about Alexander the Great misrepresenting his life-long male lover and companion, and not mentioning his Persian male lover? Why make a film about Archilles and pretend that his male lover, whose death caused his downfall, was his platonic cousin? Why make a movie about Cole Porter and not mention anything? The list goes on.
helpful•73
- hobbittall
- Jun 4, 2018
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $3,300,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,011,195
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $83,863
- Aug 11, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $3,011,195
- Runtime1 hour 47 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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