The film Basquiat is essentially a dramatized biography of the very famous and late artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat. Although the essential biography of Basquiat is somewhat dramatized throughout the film,the movie itself is a great representation of the factual trials and tribulations Basquiat did in fact face during his life as an artist and an individual. The time period being depicted of around the mid-1980s is successfully portrayed. The setting matches the time period almost picture perfect by including clothing, cars, and simple establishments that match the style of the 1980s. As an individual, Basquiat’s journey starts off quite rough. He lives a very simplistic life without much money. At one point, the film shows him waking up in a cardboard box in the local park. He lives with his friend who is also in the same predicament as he is. From the start, you can tell how invested Basquiat is in his art. Wherever he goes he is creating new art, whether its tagging the side of a building or creating art out of spilled syrup, his creativity is limitless. The environment he is surrounded by in the beginning of the film is very troublesome. This environment consists of a lot of drug use. Basquiat’s involvement in drug use is very heavy and consistent. During this era of art, Andy Warhol was one of the most famous American artists at the time, and little did Basquiat know how close the two would become.
As time progresses, Basquiat meets a man by the name of Rene who essentially fires the flame of his career in art. Basquiat gets booked into his first art show and this is a huge success for him. And after that, big names end up buying his art and his name now becomes a household name in the art industry. This leads him to doing dozens and dozens of shows throughout the country, and even shows in Europe. Basquiat’s paintings were like no other, and this unique factor is what caught the attention of many collectors and other famous artists. Basquiat goes from selling two small paintings to Andy Warhol for about $10 each to becoming a very good friend of Warhol’s and even making paintings with him. It seems as if Basquiat replaces his good friend Benny with Warhol. From the beginning, Basquiat did almost everything with Benny, but as his career was set off and he became relevant enough to associate himself with an artist as great as Andy Warhol, he ended up replacing Benny with Warhol. He also does this with Rene.Rene essentially discovered Basquiat and without Rene, who knows if Basquiat would have even gotten any exposure for his art, but Basquiat ends up turning his back on Rene and goes with the more known and successful Bruno. As for the historically accuracy of the film,the majority of the movie is historically accurate. The most dramatized portions of the film deal with his relationship with his girlfriend Gina. The film starts with Basquiat going to a diner and Gina happens to be his waitress.They end up becoming involved with each other and she is associated with him until the end of the film. As the film progresses, it seems that his involvement with drug use seems to progress as well . The more known he becomes, the more money he makes and the more money he makes, the more drugs he is able to buy. This factor does essentially play a huge part in his career. It actually becomes the demise of his career. He passes away due to a heroin overdose at the age of 27. One aspect that I absolutely did not like about this movie was the ending. The overall body of the movie was fantastic, but the ending was absolutely dry and seemed rushed. Instead of creating a series of events that could’ve potentially had the movies audience on the edge of their seats, the movie creators end the movie with a black screen and few sentences are played on that black screen telling the audience that Basquiat dies at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose and then the credits appear. I believe the director chooses this method because he wanted to put more emphasis on the life of Basquiat, rather than his demise. Maybe the simplicity of the ending is to take away from the harsh reality of how the artist’s life ended. Other than that, the movie really did grab my attention and kept me entertained as well. I believe his life was genuinely and efficiently portrayed throughout the entirety of the film. I also believe that the overall film was very well executed other than the ending. Basquiat was a very successful artist with an amazing, yet depressing story, and the creators did a very well job telling his story.
