Basquiat

Julian Schnabel's Basquiat follows Jean-Michel Basquiat, a young Black artist who moves from anonymous graffiti in New York to sudden prominence in the downtown art world of the early 1980s. His encounter with Andy Warhol opens doors to Soho galleries and wealthy collectors, but the same milieu that celebrates him proves difficult to navigate. Success brings pressure, dependence and a struggle over who he is, and the film traces that trajectory rather than its end.

Schnabel directed and co-wrote the screenplay with John F. Bowe, working from his own knowledge of the painter he had known. The cast is led by Jeffrey Wright in the title role, with David Bowie as Warhol, Benicio del Toro, Claire Forlani, Dennis Hopper and Michael Wincott among a credited cast of fifty-two. Made for about three million dollars, the film earned roughly the same amount worldwide, so it reached a modest audience in cinemas.

This was Schnabel's first feature, arriving before Before Night Falls, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, At Eternity's Gate and In the Hand of Dante. It holds a 6.9 out of 10 on IMDb from around 24,000 votes and a 6.6 on TMDB from a few hundred, while the critics' score stands at 7 out of 10 from thirty reviews, a warmer professional response than the audience figures suggest.