Rating: 
Summary: For artists only
Review: This movie is for the artistic. Whether it be music, visual, poetic, or any other form. If you don't get this movie, then your artistic forms are limited to a commercial bent. Those of us that have tried to keep to a vision that sat with us in coffeeshops or street corners, or park benches will understand this artistic genius. Unfettered by fear, he chose to paint. Many artists will watch this, and turn to their art. If you are not moved to make your art beautiful, then you missed something, something beautiful.
Rating: 
Summary: It misses some important points
Review: When I first saw this movie, I loved it. It introduced the art of jean-michel to me, and made me love it. I then read the book basquait, which is a very good biography. I realized that the movie misses out on alot of major things, like his being used by his dealers. Also basquait's charachter seems too passive. He was actually an energetic, aggressive, creative charachter. I still enjoy seeing the movie though.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor
Review: Julian Schabel wrote and directed this. He also recorded a country album. He should stick to what he does best, painting paintings. Schnabel made the mistake that movie audiences often do, thinking that movies are good because of the actors and the director, when it's the script that is the most important thing. (As a Warner Bros. studio executive said in the 40's, "Writers are the most important thing in a movie, and we better keep them from finding that out"). Writing fiction usually takes years to master. Schnabel's script looks like it was his first attempt. It's really a piece of junk. He does not know basic narrative rules. David Bowie is very very good as Warhol. (But little kids win academy awards, so I don't think giving a good acting performance is that big a deal). The actor who plays Basquiat is good. (Courtney Love gives a lousy performance...what else is new?) I think Basquiat was a joke who did child's scrawls...and I wanted to see the movie to see how he pulled off such a ruse on the public. But this movie was neither informative NOR entertaining. Julian Schnabel, you ain't no rennaissance man.
Rating:
Summary: Surfer in the sky...
Review: I loved the surfer in the sky part of the film... To me it was just a way of letting someone else peek into Basquiat's head. Most people would only see the sky with a few clouds... Basquiat saw so much more... he saw something where there was nothing... the mind of a true creator.
Rating:
Summary: Its all over now Baby Blue...
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite movies... The soundtrack is great also. In regards to the last review, you have to look deeper than just "A movie about a black man". To quote Basquiat speaking to a journalist played by Christopher Walken: Do you see yourself as a black painter? Well, Do you see yourself as a white writer? This isn't a movie about race. This is a movie about art...
Rating: 
Summary: ZZZZZZZZ
Review: If it wasn't for the movie, I may never have known Basquait. I just wanted to see a movie about a black man who paints since I was sick and tired of all of the gangster and slave movies. Anyway, I went to a theater to see this one. What a mind numbing mess! There were a waste of interesting characters in it that did nothing but babble, and Jeffrey Wright was about as animated as cold grits. I couldn't understand a word the man said! This movie needed subtitles big time! I understand that he was trying to capture the true ways of the real drugged out Basquait, but did he really have to go that far? There was only one moment I remember from this movie, and that was when I chuckled while watching David Bowie's cheeky Andy Warhol having a mild pointless argument at a restaruant. If the purpose of this movie is to tell a tale about someone's life, it failed miserably. All I know from this film is that Basquait made horrible paintings.
Rating:
Summary: Take a walk on the high <art> side.
Review: To most, the world of Jean Michel Basquiat, or of director Julian Schnabel (for that matter), is a fantastic, distant place. This movie does absolutely nothing to bring that world closer, but it does give us a wonderful look at the world of art, and a painful but personal view of lower Manhattan. The superb cast is lead by Jeffrey Wright and we get one of our first looks at the luminous Claire Forlani. Many will talk of David Bowie's brilliant portrayal of Andy Warhol (it is brilliant), but I stack the performances of Dennis Hopper, Michael Wincott, and Gary Oldman right there with him. Basquiat led a tragic existence and suffered an untimely but hardly unforeseen death. He is portrayed as a pure artist in the sense that he seems oblivious to anything one might deem conformist or responsible. Whether or not this is truly biographical, or artistic license we do not know, but why would be bothered by historical inaccuracies? It's all a fantasy world anyway.
Rating:
Summary: .
Review: Interesting, although relatively uninformative film. The film presupposes your knowledge of Andy Warhol and friends, and thus does not explore the details that would've been necessary for someone like myself (who does *not* know a great deal about Warhol and friends) to find it more entertaining. Time jumps along and entire relationships are "established" through a few scant exchanges of dialogue, and giant wads of their development and further existence are merely implied. The brunt of the movie is preoccupied with dreamy, sentimental passages that do convey a certain atmosphere, but they don't offer enough to really sink your teeth into. Seemingly important things often go unexplained. And at the heart of it all, I really just didn't care much for Basquiat. I mean, as depicted by Jeffrey Wright in this movie. Wright's performance is quite good, but Basquiat himself, while vaguely interesting, mostly inspired indifference. If I was meant to sympathize with him, I didn't. If I wasn't mean to sympathize with him, then I suppose the film serves as a mildly thought-provoking look into the politics of "high art." But if the latter was the movie's aim, less time should've been spent on the dreamy, unenriching menages and more on fleshing out the relationships of the characters and the events that shape the story. It isn't a terrible movie, but it is disappointing on more than one level.
Rating: 
Summary: A very good film
Review: I saw this film strictly for the reason that I love Gary Oldman. However, I was surprised at how taken I was with the story of Basquiat. The cast was superb--I especially loved how David Bowie portrayed Andy Warhol. How poetic. The story was good, too, although at times I admit it was difficult to follow-I didn't get that part with the surfer in the sky at all. I hate it when people try to put some visual avant-garde thing in to use as a metaphor for something else. Just stick to the story at hand and forget about the surfers! Good movie overall, worth seeing at least once.
Rating:
Summary: I WILL NOT SELL YOU 'BASQUIAT'.
Review: But I will say this: I give it 3 and a half stars as a film and 2 stars for the depiction of Jean-Michel. While the depiction is accurate, it is only part of a much larger character.
|
