Jean Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, A documentary directed by Tamra Davis focused on bringing Jean-Michel Basquiat’s life into view for those of us who did not have the pleasure of knowing such an incredibly talented artist. Jean-Michel was born in Brooklyn on December 22, 1960, and by the time he was the mere age of 17 he had his bags packed and moved to Manhattan where he would then pursue his career as an artist. Basquiat really embodied the term struggling artist just as many of his friends did during this time period. He was known to couch surf and scrounge around just to make sure he could afford a meal that day, but he did not care because he had a goal and nothing was getting in the way of that. Basquiat was a known graffiti artist working with friend Al Diaz on what they called SAMO. Jean-Michel soon after being discovered as one of the faces behind SAMO went on to become a full-fledged painter. He developed many friendships in the time he spent truly becoming a known artist. He became very close with one artist in particular; Andy Warhol. The whole documentary is directed by Davis and includes real, raw video interviews she conducted herself with her good friend Jean-Michel. Throughout the documentary, she sifts through the highs and lows of his life through interviews with his friends revealing things you may not have known before watching this documentary even if you had already considered yourself a fan. Now, years later, Basquiat is known as one of the most hardworking, influential, genius artists of the twentieth century.
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.
