In 1981, nineteen-year-old graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright) is a bi-sexual street punk living in a cardboard box in NYC. Switching to postmodern Neo-Expressionism, he is discovered by Andy Warhol's (David Bowie) art world and becomes a star, an internationally renowned sensation--one of the most successful, controversial, glamorous artists in the world. Every aspect of his life becomes a subject for the media. But this turbulent and talented young man is also plagued by loneliness, self-destruction and the belief that people do not accept him for who he is. Basquiat was the first black contemporary artist to succeed in the white art world, and Tony Award-winning actor Jeffrey Wright does a perfect job portraying a man tortured by self-doubt and thoughts of suicide, struggling to survive. Early in the film, Basquiat stares through a window at the Warhol crowd standing in an art gallery. David Bowie, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, and others are gathered together--obviously a jarring experience for Basquiat. The film's use of dreamy imagery tells the story from the perspective of Jean-Michel's eyes as he floats through relationships and gallery showings. Edited in a freeform fashion, Basquiat's life seems uneven. The story is occasionally muddled, and plotwise it is conventional in structure. Basquiat reaches the heights of fame and forgets all of his former friends before being redeemed at the end. Success has a high price, and Basquiat pays with friendship, love, and eventually his life. Basquiat died in 1988 at the age of 27 from mixed-drug toxicity, combining cocaine and heroin, known as "speedballing".
Basquiat's estate would not grant permission for his art to be used in the film. Director Julian Schnabel did the accurate reproductions of Basquiat's work, collage-style paintings on canvas. Lech Majewski wrote the script based on John F. Bowe's short story.
