The Stories about Art Films: 22. Basquiat (1996), ACJ Movie Academy

Basic Info

Title: Basquiat
Genre: Drama
Country: United States
Language: English, Spanish
Running time: 106 minutes
Release date: August 9, 1996

Staff

Director: Julian Schnabel
Produced by: Joseph Allen, Peter Brant
Screenplay: Julian Schnabel
Cinematography: Ron Fortunato
Music: John Cale, Julian Schnabel
Editor: Michael Berenbaum

Cast

Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel Basquiat
David Bowie as Andy Warhol
Benicio del Toro as Benny Dalmau
Dennis Hopper as Bruno Bischofberger
Gary Oldman as Albert Milo
Michael Wincott as René Ricard
Claire Forlani as Gina Cardinale
Parker Posey as Mary Boone
Courtney Love as Big Pink

Summary

“Basquiat” is a 1996 American biographical drama film, which is the feature directorial debut of Julian Schnabel. The film is based on the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat, an American postmodernist and neo expressionist artist. Born in Brooklyn, Basquiat used his graffiti roots, as the basis to create collage-style paintings on canvas. In the film, Jeffrey Wright portrays Basquiat, and David Bowie plays Basquiat's friend and mentor Andy Warhol.

Plot

This film tells partly fictionalized Basquiat's life. Initially a struggling artist living in a cardboard box in Tompkins Square Park, Basquiat was recognized by the New York art scene in the 1980s due to his association with Andy Warhol, the art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, poet and critic René Ricard and fellow artist Albert Milo.

Along with the development of his artistic career, the film also follows the turbulent relationship between Basquiat and Gina, an ambitious fellow artist, whom he meets while she is working as a waitress at a diner he frequents with his friend Benny. However, their romance is influenced by Basquiat's affair with the so-called "Big Pink", a woman he brought from the street and his habitual abuse of heroin. Eventually, Basquiat finds himself isolated by his fame, Andy Warhol's death and his drug use. The film ends with a title card informing the audience that Jean-Michel Basquiat died of a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988 at the age of 27.

Movie Review

“Interesting Film about the Art World”
“I think this film is great”
“Fascinating look at New York art world”
“Great Films”
“One of my favorite movies”

Interesting stories about the film

1. In the film, David Bowie actually wore the wig worn by the real Andy Warhol.
2. Director Julian Schnabel personally painted the reproductions of Basquiat which are used throughout the film because the owner of Basquiat’s works refused to use his works in the film.
3. Albert Milo, the character of Gary Oldman, is not a real person, but it is actually an ironic self-portrait of writer and director Julian Schnabel. Stella, Milo's daughter, was played by Stella Schnabel, the real daughter of Schnabel.
4. Chris Rock was considered to be Basquiat's role. According to Rock, he wasn't interested in the role because he didn't know who Basquiat was at the time.

Thank you.

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