New York City sets the stage as now elderly Ushio and Noriko Shinohara reside in a dingy apartment. We are introduced to the more well-known Ushio Shinohara, who is creating an art piece in the hopes of selling it in an upcoming exhibition. His unique style of painting presents an exciting twist. Ushio puts on boxing gloves and punches paint onto the canvas from right to left. We learn that innovative styles such as action painting and his sculpture made Ushio among the best of the Japanese avant-garde. Since leaving Japan, he has found moderate success, having work shown in museums such as the MoMA and publications such as Art in America.

Energy and passion are very important to Ushio’s work. Instead of using a brush for calculated movement, he punches paint onto the canvas to fly freely where it will. He names an exhibition “ROAR!” because that is how he views his art. Loud and full of energy. He says “Art is a demon that drags you along. It’s not something that you can stop even if you should.” His desire to portray things as explosive and in-your-face makes his works much more riveting. However, having an unconventional style meant that often Ushio’s work went underappreciated. The Shinoharas experienced fame, but this did not translate to a lot of money.

The relationship between the two is very loving, but their poverty undeniably puts a strain on it. Even within the first few minutes, we see signs of unease between the two. They are constantly bickering, which seems to be consistent throughout their 40-year marriage. A fact that led to the creation of Cutie, a cartoon character created by Noriko. Cutie is representative of Noriko herself and is accompanied by her husband “Bullie” who represents Ushio. Noriko uses Cutie as a type of catharsis, a creative outlet to express frustration about her husband and her life in a new country.

Cutie reveals nearly everything about the couple’s past. From the first moment a 19-year-old Noriko met middle-aged Ushio, to the Ushio’s crippling alcoholism that nearly tore their family apart. The highs of being featured in galleries, and the lows of becoming poor and questioning pursuing art. Through all the good and bad though, the art demon drags the couple along and they continue to move forward.

Perhaps this documentary has two boxers to offer because even in her old age, Noriko has to fight to prove that she is an artist. Getting pregnant with her son forced Noriko to temporarily give up her art. This combined with the fact that she often forgoes her work to help assist Ushio, leads him to view his wife as an assistant and “the average one.” Throughout the documentary we see Noriko making creative efforts, completely independent of her husband. She even goes out of her way to provide her best work to an exhibitor interested in Ushio’s work. Noriko, though, comes out of this fight a winner as she is included in her husband’s art exhibit. Going so far as to alter the title according to her artistic vision. She is self-empowered and confident and uncompromising. You love to see it.

The final exhibition featuring both Ushio and Noriko perfectly shows two sides of the same coin. Ushio expresses passion in his work with the energy that he pours in, while Noriko does the same but with compassion and love. Throughout the documentary, we get to see how “love is a roar.”

Overall, I would highly recommend watching this documentary. Because of the themes and execution, Cutie and the Boxer would make an interesting watch even for those with no prior interest in art. It provides a very sincere look at the lives of these two artists, never shying away from the negative aspects of their lives. One of the most beautiful things about the documentary is that it shows how the Shinohara’s immigrant story was wrapped up in their art. As well as displaying how these artists were able to manifest the American dream for themselves through art.

In the beginning of the film, his friends tell the story of how challenging life was for the young people living in the SoHo community, having to scrape change of the ground at clubs to survive on a fifteen cent bag of cheese doodles for a couple of days, but as he described it, Basquiat enjoyed his life as a bum and wanted to be on his own, away from home. Basquiat also would take doors and windows off the street to paint on, as he could not afford canvas. With these anecdotes, the film shows how strong-willed Basquiat was and how hard he worked for his dreams of being an artist in New York.

Basquiat was always an artist even before becoming well known for his paintings. When he first moved to New York, he created a band called Gray, named after Gray’s Anatomy. This was a book his mother gifted him in the hospital, that he took deep inspiration from, even using some references in many of his paintings. Basquiat was also once known as SAMO, known in the New York community for his poetic-like graffiti. The film showed how Basquiat was always expressing himself artistically and making his presence known. 

The film’s name Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child came from a piece Rene Ricard wrote about Basquiat, naming him The Radiant Child. Ricard described how Basquiat appreciated a child’s art and how they made no mistakes, very similar to how Basquiat would defend his own work. This aspect is very important when you first view Basquiat’s work, as one might be confused about how he presents it. The film showed how Basquiat took a very different approach to art, and how he had a unique ability to access everything in his mind and put it on canvas, displaying his very busy and genius thought process. Basquiat was not only inspired by art through the child’s eyes but he was also very inspired by many painters, writers, specifically William Burroughs and even jazz musicians. Basquiat took their art and made his own revisions in their work, making it his own. 

One very important topic the film talked about was how Basquiat had such a fragile soul, which I think is very important when discussing Basquiat. The film quoted Madonna saying that “he was too fragile for this earth.” Basquiat identified with the tragic ending many heroes had, specifically his heroes like Pollock and Van Gogh. Basquiat was a genius for his time and struggled not only with his busy mind but also with his rise to fame in the early eighties. As his friends describe it in the film Basquiat basically went from being a bum to being the most famous artist in a short two year period. This lifestyle transition was very rough to adapt to in such a short time period. He went from selling his paintings for two hundred dollars to making hundreds of thousands in one night at a show. Basquiat was seen as a God-like figure in the art community where he was known, but as soon as he would walk the streets of New York someone would think he was just a bum. I think that it was important for the film to include this so viewers could understand aspects that lead to his tragic ending.

Towards the end of Basquiat’s career, he eventually became friends with Andy Warhol. As his friendship with Andy blossomed, he cut out many of his friends from before he was famous, as his friends described it. Basquiat and Warhol soon became so close and inspired by one another that they decided to collaborate on multiple pieces together. But the unexpected happened and the collaboration flopped and received very bad reviews. This caused a falling out between Warhol and Basquiat. Following the falling out, Warhol suddenly died sending Basquiat into a very guilt-ridden spiral, as he did not get to make up with Warhol. This caused Basquiat to get into drugs, specifically heroin. Basquiat struggled deeply with his internal thoughts and addiction. He eventually died from a heroin overdose after being sober for months on August 12, 1988 at twenty seven years old.

The movie ends right after his death specifically so one could focus on all of Basquiat’s work and not his downfall. Basquiat was an amazing artist and I think one should focus on his monumental work and not his downfall. I do still think it is important that the filmmakers included his addiction because Basquiat struggled so deeply with himself, as they spoke of this all throughout the film, but once he became famous it became worse. 

Whether one is looking to view the film for entertainment with no interest in Basquiat or looking to learn everything about Basquiat I would recommend it. Going into this film with little background information about Basquiat, this film opened up my mind to his very exciting and genius mind and how he could paint exactly what he visioned. I also enjoyed how Basquiat himself got to tell his story and how his inner circle shared their experiences too. This documentary-style film showed the viewer exactly what went down in Basquiat’s life during his rise to success and how it affected him and everyone around him. It also was able to convey his friend’s thoughts about his downfall and their view of him struggling so deeply within himself. 

The styles of the two artists are completely different, Ushio uses a technique called action painting where he puts paint on his boxing gloves and punches the canvas which splatters paint onto the walls and forms an abstract painting. Ushio also made sculptures out of cardboard that he would find outside on the street in front of his SoHo studio. Noriko had a completely different style and sketched comics in a notebook, these comics sold well and Ushio would often ask her for money early on in their relationship. The couple in their early years remind me of other artists such as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera because of the complex relationship they had and the struggles that they had to go through. Frida and Noriko both fell in love with their husbands even though they were treated unfairly, the two artists didn’t know any better and were focused on finding a husband. Frida and Noriko both told their stories through their artwork and sketched about their life problems. They both used their artwork to cope with their stress from their lives. The age difference is also similar, Noriko was 19 when she met Ushio whom was 41, and when Frida met Diego, she was 22 and he was 42. 

The couple lives in poverty and they struggle to pay their rent monthly, in one scene we see Ushio travel to Japan to sell his work there, he stuffs his action style painting in his suitcase and returns to America with $3,500 in cash. Ushio put Noriko through a lot during their marriage, he made her put her work on hold to assist him with his own work and to raise their child and he also struggled with alcoholism. Their focus solely on art and the alcohol consumption of Ushio is the reason why their son Alex is also struggling with alcoholism. Noriko put her artwork aside to try to do what was best for her family and she didn’t resume her artwork until shortly before the movie started. The director Zachary Heinzerling did a great job of expressing the emotions Noriko and how she felt about the struggles they went through. In one scene Noriko says “We are like two flowers in one pot” meaning that they don’t get enough nutrients at certain times. When one of them is happy then the other is sad and it shows how much of a struggle that their relationship is. 

Heinzerling does a good job of capturing the struggles throughout their years, which shows the sacrifices that each of them have to give up pursuing their dreams. He uses Noriko’s paintings to show these struggles and he also explains how Ushio was once a top artist in Japan but is struggling to get by in America. Noriko’s dream was to sell art in the U.S and start a family with someone, while Ushio’s dream was to be a successful artist in the U.S and sell his different style of work. Although their plans didn’t work out, they still had their fame and are thought of as a talented couple in modern day art. They may have not been the most popular and wealthy couple, but their stories and interesting art styles made them popular in modern art today.

The film portrays their lives to be sad and depressing, through sad music and images of their poor lifestyle as well as through Noriko’s stories and storytelling paintings which shows Ushio to be a selfish drunk. In one part of the movie, Noriko is explaining how when she had a baby, she had to put her dream aside and her love for art faded because she had to raise her son and take care of her husband. The movie shows images and clips of Noriko throughout their relationship, and it was very rare to find a picture where they looked like they were living the life they always wanted to, a happy successful life.  This film shows that someone’s work could be popular but that does not mean the individual themselves are famous. Some artists’ paintings do not become famous until after they passed away. Most of Ushio’s paintings did not sell because buyers would look at it and say, “that’s nice but not my taste.” His art was usually created in action, which is why he has the nickname Boxer. He had very unique ways of creating sculptures and paintings.  A few of his paintings were made with boxing gloves and foam tied onto it and he would create one in less than three minutes. For example, the movie showed the one called “Poppy fields” which was one of his more popular ones. I found it to be very different and impressive that a painting could be created with just two objects. Although Noriko does not usually express her emotions through her comic paintings but with captions on them until later on in the movie after Ushio goes to Japan to try and sell art for money. Since his work is made very differently, when a buyer comes to look at some of his work, she explains that she wants to buy this art but she is looking for more historical content. Therefore, Norkio insists on showing her the painting he had done at a university, which sold the buyer immediately because it held historical symbolism since it was one of his very first paintings that draws a lot of attention to it.

This movie shows what it is like behind the scenes of an artist’s life, behind all the fame and glory. Ushio was a famous artist in the media when they first met. But he was not successful whatsoever. He was an angry drunk that did not help Norkio, she had to support him and raise her son. His style is intense and seen as interesting in the United States but is not something that seems to be frequently purchased. His works have seemed to be more popular among the Japanese. An exhibition of his art was shown in the film featuring a large, cardboard motorcycle that Noriko complains of as not looking like a motorcycle until after it is painted. The scenes that show them preparing for his exhibition reveal that Noriko has put her artwork to the side over the years as she spent her time as Ushio’s unpaid assistant, cook, and maid. When she does have free time she paints, which soon became a whole storytelling wall of her and Ushio’s life together which was called “cutie.” She expressed her frustrations and regrets through her artwork. It has been revealed just how difficult the couple’s whole marriage has been due to Ushio’s, illustrated as her character Bullie’s, drinking problem. It shows in her illustrations of a drunken Bullie and a depressed and stressed Cutie, giving a true look at her inspiration for her works. Noriko was forced to raise their only son Alex in a cramped apartment surrounded by stumbling drunks almost every night with little to no help from Ushio, as he frequently drank as well. This has caused their son to grow up with the same traits as Ushio, now also an artist as well as a heavy drinker. Ushio eventually did quit drinking for health reasons, which Noriko claimed to have helped their relationship. Norkio has made it more than known that she regrets catering to her husband and losing her passion for art for a while. She had sometimes wished she married someone who wasn’t a drunk and had a steady paycheck coming in. 

In my opinion, I think this movie describes our society’s stereotype of relationships quite well. The women are usually the ones that choose to push their dreams aside for their family. They do not have to but they chose to because they want what is best for their loved ones. While the men are working for the family to bring home income and food on the table. I do disagree with how they displayed her life to be, such as when she used to think about how her life would be if she did not marry Ushio but then felt bad for thinking that way. If she did not take a few years off from painting they would of not be struggling for money because there would have been two incomes coming in if she sold hers too. The movie portrayed their relationship to be very bland and boring, she stayed home and did the house chores as well as take care of their child, while he always was a drunk with his friends over. The movie was more of a documentary on their life rather than his paintings and sculptures. They did show a few of his favorite ones of his before the showing of his art. Also, when one of the buyers were coming to find a historical content painting.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child does a very good job of touching on every event of Jean-Michele Basquiat’s life, and not centering around one particular event. The movie begins by introducing the main character and describing his personality and his life at home. It then leads to his start as an artist with his group SAMO and even touches on the band he started called Gray, followed by his upcoming as a famous artist. 

I personally like that the movie touches base with not only his accomplishments but also the difficulties that came with his overnight fame. The documentary touches base with the discrimination issues he faced and also the scrutiny of his painting style. Basquiat had a very unique and outgoing painting style that the art world didn’t fully appreciate when Basquiat was first introduced to them. Basquiat had issues getting his work displayed in museums because of this issue and the movie conveys to us how Basquiat digested this and also how he responded.

When watching the documentary, I found that it really roped in your attention and kept you watching with enthusiasm. I enjoyed the way they included both interviews with Basquiat and interviews with the people around him so that the viewer could get a view from all angles of Basquiat’s life. I feel that this is because Basquiat wasn’t the typical famous artist because he wasn’t born into fame, he came from practically nothing and he worked to make something of himself. This aspect contributes to the feeling of connecting to the main character and feeling like you truly know him by the end of the film.

The film touches base on the racial issues in New York at the time of Jean-Michel Basquiat. This had a huge impact on Basquiat’s career. I like how the film not only educated the viewer on the specific instances that racism affected Basquiat, but also how he reacted and how he dealt with this huge issue in his life. Basquiat was asked “You like being called the black Picasso?” and his response displays respect for Picasso and flattery for being compared to him, but also his disapproval and his unhappiness with the racial aspect of the question. In the artworks painted by Basquiat, we see very many references to racism and the history of black people. These paintings and events in his life had a large impact on Basquiat’s fame and his overall living experience in New York.

When Basquiat became very famous, he started becoming paranoid about the people around him and struggled with the worry of others using him for his fame and wealth. The movie does a good job of putting these feelings on display and supporting these feelings with his minimal support system and resources in his upbringing. In the beginning, the film talks about how Basquiat ran away from home and planned to live his life as a bum. It also mentions that Basquiat would go to clubs and look for money on the floor, and how he would go to the bar often, but wouldn’t ever buy a drink because he couldn’t afford to.

Another aspect of Basquiat’s life the I appreciate the movie exploring is Jean-Michel Basquiat’s drug addictions. Several of the people from his life that were interviewed in the documentary bring up his drug addiction and even convey drugs as a part of who he was. Since Basquiat died of a heroin overdose, I think it is respectable and necessary to talk about Basquiat’s drug addiction and how it may have been impacting his artworks and his personal relationships with those around him

Andy Warhol was a very good friend of Basquiat and may have been his biggest support system as an artist. Warhol admired Basquiat’s artwork instead of demeaning it like many other artists and critics. The documentary explains how Warhol felt about Basquiat and how they collaborated and connected personally. As with many other accomplishments Jean-Michele Basquiat had, collaborating with the famous Andy Warhol came with many negative reactions and scrutiny. Basquiat’s relationship with Warhol was extremely strong, and when he died Basquiat didn’t cope well, stating that he was overusing heroine. The documentary describes Basquiat’s negative coping mechanisms and how it was impacting him. Basquiat grew into a deep denial and bad position and he was caught up in a turmoil of drugs, art, and remorse.

Overall, and in my opinion, the film does a very good job of conveying Basquiat’s life story to its audience. I like the way it uses interviews from Basquiat and also several individuals who were close to him to give you a good look at the life he lived and from all angles of perspective. You get a strong feeling when watching the documentary and the details that are included are conveyed in a way that makes you feel connected to Basquiat and like you can relate to him on a personal level. By incorporating so many outlooks on Basquiat’s life in his time, there is no bias or specific influence as to how the viewer should digest the movie. I liked the multiple angle approach that was conveyed in Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child.

In most documentaries you don’t always get to experience the artist in action, it’s usually just others talking about the amazing, or not so amazing things that they had done throughout their lives. In this documentary, however, I really appreciated the fact that the raw footage Tamara had of Jean-Michel was used. We were able to experience him in the way he would want his fans to see him, happy and still extremely inspired. He told us about him wanting to be a cartoonist as a child but knowing at the age of just 15 he was going to be a real artist, a painter or a drawer. He knew what he wanted to do and was determined to do it. 

This film was conducted very well, almost in a very interesting way showing you so many different events that happened throughout his time in New York. His life was told from his own point of view, and the point of view of his friends. Throughout the film, his work is brought up and continuously described as being random, very on the go. He gets an idea and runs with it. In one part he describes his painting technique by saying his inner child just comes out and takes over. His paintings are put on display for us over and over throughout the film, they appear and disappear almost just as fast. This is amazing to me and very clever, it almost reminded me of how he created the paintings that were shown and all of his paintings/drawings for that matter. When we viewed the paintings we didn’t really get to take in every single thing going on in each of them reminding me of how Jean-Michel uses his layering technique when painting in real life. He was constantly changing the painting he was working on at the time creating layer after layer hiding different parts and then taking away bringing different aspects back to life. I really enjoyed that the movie was put together in this way whether it is on purpose or not. I believe it to be on purpose, as his artworks even go along throughout the film with the jazz soundtrack they chose to play keeping it extremely upbeat and positive. 

Throughout his life, Basquiat suffered from addiction. Davis did a very nice job of treading over this subject in a very sensitive manner. He gained a lot of friendships over time but also lost some, and even grew apart from his family. Davis, in my opinion, did a really nice job explaining how seriously drugs affected him and hurt him, but she did it in a tasteful way. Davis made sure Basquiat was still seen as the good, charismatic, inspiring person he was before he was stuck in the deep dark place that he was towards the end of his life. She incorporated things throughout the movie some people have never known. The fact that he was in a band called Gray, and that he got that idea from the book Gray’s Anatomy which his mother gave him as a child. Incorporating these facts into the movie really helped to make it less dreary. 

In the end of the film, everything is wrapped up with a neat little bow, you finally understand why Basquiat dealt with different aspects of self-loathing throughout his life. His family life, even though they grew up middle class, was still not the best. His mother suffered from mental illnesses and in his mind, he was never good enough for himself or his father. Everything is explained in detail, especially focusing on how many people truly did love and adore him giving the movie a very somber ending leaving you with a sense of happiness.  He was an amazing artist but he himself, however, didn’t even realize that. He was constantly worried about being betrayed Basquiat was a genius he just never knew it. The quote “Nobody loves a genius child”, I think refers to himself he believes no one loves him or appreciates him as much as it is made out to be that they do. He felt off and on as if he had no one and nowhere to turn and that is what lead him to drugs and what eventually led to his untimely death… himself. 

The Radiant Child was a very good film in my opinion. It portrayed every important detail of his life. Basquiat’s art is shown to us while describing what he was going through in the time period that the piece was created. The movie was creative, unique, and different, much like Jean-Michel. I appreciated it very much, and I truly believe Basquiat would as well. 

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child draws your attention within minutes and keeps your focus until the end credits. Sadly, if you know Basquiat than you know how his story ends. However, the director did a phenomenal job of keeping the film in high spirits as best as it could be. Unavoidably there are dark moments that need to be shown to us, yet we can’t let the dark in Basquiat’s life overpower the amazing artist he was and how he changed the art world. His art made people think, question controversial topics and even dive deeper into their own emotions.

Few flaws can be found in this film. One of very few critiques I had was that there isn’t much emphasis on his backstory or his childhood. I found myself searching for answers, why did he run away from home? Where is his mother? I feel we aren’t informed as much about her as we are his father. Although I am left with questions, many were answered. What brings such magic to Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child is we get to visibly see him speaking. These video interviews with him were taken over 20 years ago and hidden away after his tragic death. Not only does it give Basquiat the element of mystery by hiding him away from the world but leaves you hanging on every word he says. Some of the questions he was asked about his art left me with a better understanding of not his art but Basquiat as a person. He wants to appear simple on the outside and yet on the inside he is a very complex man. Jean-Michel Basquiat is not famous for his art skills but rather how he can see the world and translate it through his eyes and produce a completely different perspective almost like a machine. It was not his “skill” that drew viewers in but instead the concept of his work and the somewhat puzzling manner he presented it in. 

Other qualities of Jean-Michel that the film hit right on the head other than his creativity were his passion for art, his drive for fame, temper to criticism and yearning for respect. As Basquiat grew more and more famous it never seemed to be enough, not the money but, the respect he wanted and never fully received. One would argue living on the streets eating cheese doodles to overnight celebrity, starring in a film, downtown 81, being a part of the mysterious well-known group “SAMO” and painting alongside other great artists like Andy Warhol would be considered a great accomplishment. However, Jean-Michel Basquiat wanted more. It got to the point he felt the need to turn to drugs to calm his soul. 

The film draws attention to an artist Basquiat worked closely with, Andy Warhol. As viewers, we are truly able to see how they fed off each other in positive ways and lifted each other out of the dark. Basquiat was able to encourage Warhol to start drawing again and in return, Warhol was the friend Basquiat needed for stability. At one point the two artists collaborated and did a show. However, it flopped and drew Basquiat into a deeper depression. He stopped communication with Warhol and crawled deeper inside himself. Many rumors were floating around such as, was there a love connection? Was Warhol taking advantage of the young artist’s fame? We are never truly given answers to these and many more questions but left to decide for ourselves.  

As we can see, a pattern starts to form in the film by following a timeline from early on till late in his career, a downhill slope for Basquiat’s art and wellbeing. Although his art is selling for thousands and he is well known globally, he is still being turned down by “snotty” high-end art galleries. His art starts to slow down. It was two years until he was in another art show. The art he produced now contained more empty space and consisted of negative emotions. In one painting he repeats the words “man dies”. At this point in the film through live footage of Jean-Michel and photographs, we see he is physically deteriorating. The death of fellow artist Andy Warhol sent him deeper into his downward spiral.  

Overall, in my opinion, this gives insight into Jean-Michel Basquiat as an artist and as a person. His life consisted of beauty and pain. He had friends, love, ambitions, and dreams. When people become famous or have tragic deaths, we tend to overlook the true person they were and the lives they led and use tunnel vision to only see their success and demise. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, captures a part of the artist many people have never seen. His artwork in SAMO with Al Diaz, living on the streets and occasionally staying on friends’ couches. This is key to understand his work. Fan of the arts or not, I recommend this movie to everyone. 

An aspect of the movie that was so intriguing was the use of interviews that were filmed with the artist himself. This was a neat device to allow Basquiat to speak for himself and be a part of a project that celebrates his life. This interview was recorded at the height of his fame; allowing viewers to see Basquiat in his glory days when he had inner confidence and good lucks.

The approach of this film seemed to be very ironic. I think this because Basquiat continues to say in his interviews that he doesn’t think about his paintings and there is no motivation behind them, instead they just come “automatic” and his inner child comes out. Throughout the movie hundreds of Basquiat’s paintings are shown, some are only on the screen for about a second. Davis allows you to view them very quickly without being able to consider them or have any feeling behind them before viewing the next one. This reminds me of how Basquiat did his paintings because he was constantly changing or crossing out something on his paintings to get a final piece. Even though this seems as an effective aspect of the movie and shows Basquiat’s enormous artistic talent, it was one of the parts I didn’t enjoy about the film. By the end of the movie I had almost forgotten about every painting shown because there were so many and they were only on the screen for a short amount of time. I would have preferred to see just a couple of his works of art and had the artists and friends dissect those paintings and talk about the importance and the impact they had.

Another feature of the movie that I did not enjoy was that even though his hardships were mentioned they were not taken into full detail. They were often just mentioned without much explanation. For example, the embattled relationship with his father, his drug issue, and his fallout with Andy Warhol. With more clarification about these events, we might be able to understand and further investigate his death, meanings behind his paintings, and what influenced him to become a painter. I believe Davis didn’t want to disclose this information to its full extent because she didn’t want viewers to interpret Basquiat in a bad way or to remember him for his hardships. She further tried to present this documentary as a celebration through the music. The cheerful and optimistic music in the beginning and the end contributed to this. These choices helped to shape the tone of the movie. The music shifted the depressing ending to a merry and reassuring mood of all the great things Basquiat accomplished in life.

Davis presented things to viewers that we might not have known. For example, many people are familiar with his paintings, his relationship with Andy Warhol, his overdose but many viewers may not know that he played clarinet in a band called Gray. This helped the documentary be successful because it allows viewers to connect with a different side of Basquiat and learn these other special talents he had.

 “Nobody loves a genius child.” These are the words of Langston Hughes’s poem used in the beginning of the documentary as a hyperbolic epigraph, meaning Davis used these words to shape the theme for the movie. I thought this was a very powerful and important poem that stimulated attention. Basquiat was a genius but he always felt betrayed and that his work wasn’t good enough. He then turned to drugs which led to his death. When Tamara Davis referred to this quote, I think she wanted us to understand that the meaning behind it was that Basquiat didn’t love himself and didn’t see himself as a genius or as his fans perceived him. This quote becomes relevant to many celebrities and famous people. They usually have incredible talents and are usually the center of much backlash. Most of the time this causes the person to become a danger to themselves and they turn down a bad path or their life ends in a tragedy. Hopefully one day this will change and there can be less incidents and tragedies of brilliant stars.

All in all, The Radiant Child is a valuable film. It allows us to see Basquiat’s art in a cultural context with zest, because of the music and great enthusiasm about Basquiat from the interviewees in this movie. Also, this movie allowed viewers to view his pictures as blazingly alive. This movie combined instructive information with a narrative story that was enjoyable to watch.

As the movie continues, we see flashbacks of how these artworks influenced Japanese art as a new art style. In the beginning Ushio’s artwork didn’t sell, even though people described him as a leader in Japanese avant-garde art work because it displays rebellion. His artwork is famous for being amazing in spite of being made by a poor artist who never sold most of his pieces. Even though they were popular in Japan and New York, he was a poor artist.

I like how throughout the movie the past is portrayed through Noriko’s drawings. We learn also through her artwork what she’s feeling and thinking. She portrays her thoughts through art and we even see this at times where she feels regrets. I also like how her thoughts are portrayed for the present through other elements, for example, the cat. We can see through her drawing and from the movie how impactful art can be on her decisions. We can also see in the film how Ushio’s opinion of Noriko is as an assistant rather than an artist. This can be interesting because her desire is to be an artist and she has a huge passion for art.

As we get more into the movie we learn through the drawings how Ushio’s actions affected Noriko’s life. We learn that due to his alcoholism and partying when they had a child six months after they met, she soon had to give up her painting dream in order to take care of the family. I like how the drawings portray how the events happen but also add her present thought and changes she wish she made or information she wish she knew. What I like about the film is the movie doesn’t focus particularly on the artwork or how artwork changed their relationship. Instead the movie focuses on the development of the relationship over time and the impact the relationship had on the artwork.

We also see the difference in personalities when the other person is not around. This can affect the artwork in a positive way and the artwork is portrayed more positively. What I mean by this is the characters are suddenly happier or the colors seem brighter. We can see throughout the film that sometimes Ushio’s artwork overshadows Noriko and when she does get her chance to display her artwork its always connected through Ushio artwork which in a way can minimize her talents. The most interesting part of the movie is when Ushio said, “we are the ones suffering most from the art.” This is interesting because his artwork is impacting many people and he believes making his artwork is amazing but because of all the effort he puts into his artwork he doesn’t have much room for much else. I find this interesting because of how this concept can be applied to many things in life and it shows the viewers the importance of balance. I like how even though Ushio put Noriko through a lot she states how it made her stronger as a person which helped her to become a better artist. What I like most about this is even though she states some of the things she could have changed we realize that her struggles helped her to become a better artist. We also learn that even though it has its ups and downs she wouldn’t change her relationship because of the power behind it. One change I would have made about the movie would have been to focus a little bit more on the artwork. We see the process of some of the artwork and some glimpses of others but we don’t get to see the meaning or hear Ushio talk about the artwork in any way. I liked how the movie wrapped up with them both fighting with the paint. Along with the fact that the ending showed Noriko getting a chance to display her artwork even if it wad related to Ushio. This helped convey the idea of them both being seen as equals.

Let’s start by saying that one would die to know what was on Picasso’s mind. In the movie Mystery of Picasso at the opening we see Mr. Pablo Ruiz Picasso sitting down on a chair looking to a certain direction as he smokes a cigarette. In this movie by Henri-Georges Clouzot, which also includes stop-motion and time-lapse photography, we get to experience first-hand what goes through Pablo Picasso’s mind when in the process of painting. The whole film is set in Picasso’s studio and we see him draw and paint many times on one canvas as he changes from one subject to another.

As a viewer I was able to see what goes through this man’s mind as he sketches. It is amazing how he starts with a line and all of a sudden, it is a whole human or animal like figure. As you enter into the world of Picasso in this film, you will feel confused and wonder whether he is done or not, but that is how he tricks you. By simply putting a few lines on a canvas with black ink he makes you believe everything is the way you see it, but the finish product is always something you do not expect. As I went into this movie, at first, I thought it was boring. At most times I was even outraged because I would have never considered his work to be art whatsoever. The beginning was a bit hard to watch but as I kept on watching I saw and felt what he was thinking and observed his work become better over time. His work also showed me parts of him that you wouldn’t know by just looking at him but mostly by asking him.

The movie is more of a documentary showing Picasso drawing, allowing us to watch his thought process evolve over time. The choice in music made it suspenseful and intriguing as to what was going on, was there going to be trouble, what is he going to paint next, is it going to be crazy or simple. I personally liked the parts in which the director and Picasso have full ongoing conversation about what is going on, making it seem more normal and real, like if nothing is staged. The movie also cuts to scene’s where you see Picasso work and prepare his ink before each shot.

Although the film itself was humdrum, after each painting I would want to watch more and more, satisfying my curiosity. Like I said in the beginning of this review, you never know or understand a painting unless you see it fully from its thought process to the final product, and that is what this movie mainly focuses on. Watching this movie made me feel calm and had me very deep in thought. After 30 minutes into the movie I got tired and told myself that I was not going to watch anymore, mainly because I was disgusted by the idea that this man was a very well-known artist. I actually however, went back to the movie and finished it because my curiosity of what he was going to paint next bothered me.

It is hard to believe that this is the type of art that has been admired throughout the 20^th century and up to today. But it is even harder to understand where the influence for this work came from, and what is the meaning behind it. It took me a while to at least have a little understanding through this movie of the significance of this type of art in general. The movie did its job in helping me understand this artist and his work by showing him painting from beginning to end. His work also showed me parts of him that you wouldn’t know by just looking at him but mostly by asking him.  Overall, I think this is a good movie, if you are looking to understand Picasso’s work better or simply to understand what was going on in the art world around the 20^th century and see what was being admired around this time, you should watch this movie. I think people admire Picasso’s work because it is different and very confusing, making you want to dig deeper into its meaning and how he did it. This type of work does not really put everything simple for you, instead it makes it harder because there are things underneath and there are different elements put into it that make it more fun and daring. I liked the movie, but I am still not very fond of Picasso’s work. I personally think that there are other artists in the world who have more interesting works than Picasso, the works that were painted in the movie mainly show women completely nude, either sitting down or standing at a distance from somewhat nude men watching them as if they were an obscene object. But I did more research and found some of his artworks that I was very fond of. From 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 7, because it really represented the artist well and made me understand his work a little more. I took 3 points off because I was not very interested in the pieces of art that the artist painted in this movie.