I’ve always liked Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work and this doco filled in all the gaps about his life that I didn’t know or missed from the film Basquiat. This is the 2nd film from this year’s festival that has named checked my all time favourite artist, Andy Warhol.
Unfortunately this screening was marred by a major technical difficulty, namely, there was no sound! The crowd slowly gathered that something was missing about a few minutes in and started calling out their complaints, when the titles said that Mike D et al did the music everyone was pretty miffed. We didn’t want to see any more of the film until the sound was fixed. About half an hour after the scheduled start time, The Radiant Child finally got started (with sound), it would have been a shame to miss out on the great 80s tracks such as Planet Rock and Obsession by Animotion etc. I particularly enjoyed the part where his former girlfriend talks about having a fight with Madonna because she is having an affair with JMB. Anyway another very interesting and comprehensive doco on a great artist.
Here’s the blurb:
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s life story, directed by his close friend Tamra Davis, features an expansive mid-80s interview with the young artist and places his life and career firmly in the context of New York in the 80s. Starting with his graffiti days, the film follows Basquiat’s meteoric rise to multi-millionaire status, his drug taking and nightclubbing, his creative process, the death of his mentor, Warhol, and his own untimely end.
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