Basquiat is a somewhat bleak look at the 1980s New York art scene. It explores how the desire to promote avant garde art can in time destroy the artist. The insider perspective of the high end art industry is interesting and enlightening. Much of that comes from director Julian Schnabel’s own experiences.

Jean Michel Basquiat was a struggling painter who may have not been as talented as his contemporaries, but lucky associations and possibly his race led to a brief period of success before his death by drug overdose before age 30. His obtuse poetic graffiti is discovered by writer, art critic, painter and poet Rene Ricard who is brilliantly portrayed by Michael Wincott. Basquiat miraculously “invades” the competitive art scene and even falls in with the famous circle of Andy Warhol. David Bowie as Warhol is breathtaking; sometimes funny and sometimes sad.

Rene Ricard is gay. Michael played him with finesse and subtlety. Too many actors, whether gay or straight in real life, tend to exaggerate in order to express gay characters. He managed just enough gay without being silly or sissy. Ricard seems to really want to be Basquiat’s friend, but also likes riding some else’s wave.

Parts of the film crawled, like the non-chemistry of the relationship between Jean Michel and girlfriend Gina.  She was supposedly an artist too, but that was left unexplored. I found the scenes between them dull and fake. Basquiat, played by Jeffrey Wright, was much more interesting to watch interact with Andy Warhol and Bruno Bischofberger (a surprisingly subdued Dennis Hopper). A scene in Warhol’s studio is sadly funny.

By far one of the best scenes tries to get at the heart of the moral dilemma of whether Basquiat was exploited or did he take advantage of the art frenzy. Christopher Walken is a reporter attempting to conduct a serious interview about Jean Michel’s work and sudden rise to stardom. Jeffrey plays dumb and drugged, but you sense a lot more going on under his unkempt dreadlocks. Walken’s nudging gets something out of him, but not what he expected. This part of the artist’s story was the most interesting yet the least explored.

As for our favorite little man, Michael, his character plays a pivotal part in Basquiat’s rise to fame, yet he seems to get little credit. He shows the proper emotion of someone stomped on by a friend as they climb over to get higher when a stoned Basquiat gives a painting to Bruno that he promised Rene. Michael reads quotes from a real prose written by Rene Ricard in 1979 at the beginning of the film. He says, "Nobody wants to be part of a generation that ignores another Van Gogh." Well, in my opinion Basquiat was about as far away from Van Gogh as I am from Madonna.

Very few people today have heard of Jean Michel Basquiat. His faddish art style thankfully faded along with the sockless loafers and pink T-shirts of the 80s.  He might have been a better artist if the society that gave him his 15 minutes hadn’t also given him drugs. This movie offers glimpses of a dark yet colorful world where people use each other and their artistic gifts to gain fame and fortune.

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The filming was done on location in Soho New York City, and it was released in August of 1996. Some of the artwork used as props was really the work of Julian Schnabel. The character of Albert Milo was supposedly based on Julian, and a painting he did as a memorial to Basquiat is featured toward the end of the film.

Click this picture to learn about the real Rene Ricard