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Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010 doc)

posted 14 years ago by hoyo-mont
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I always loved "Basquiat", seeing it in 1996 and a couple times since then, but I have often wondered how factual some of the incidents, characters and portrayals are. There are hints of fiction - particularly awkward is Julian Schnabel's stand in character Albert Milo, who seems a little self serving as one of the only characters who is not presented as a bloodsucker of some kind. But I never realized how fictionalized it is until seeing the documentary "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child" by Tamra Davis
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568335/

"The Radiant Child" barely mentions the Schnabel film and does nothing to detract from it but I think anyone seeing this movie and has any interest in the Basquiat should be required to watch the documentary, which is exellent. Not to knock this film, let me add that I've become a huge fan of Schnabel as a director not just from this film but the two great ones that followed.

[–] bluegrassish 13 years ago

If you never realized how fictional it was, it is because you (I assume) haven't read Phoebe Hoban's book. Pick it up as soon as possible. Some people say it's tabloid-y, which it is in some senses, but not entirely. It is as great a Basquiat biography as any, in fact it's the only. People question its accuracy when most of what appears in the film appears in 'The Radiant Child' and in most of the biographical information in Basquiat's monographs. In other words, it's a perfect and ideal read.

After reading it, Schnabel's movie was just that: a movie.. Nothing like the real Basquiat, who was part-art/history/learnaholic lover and part-egotistical a--.