Julian Schnabel’s tribute to his friend and fellow painter Jean-Michel Basquiat is less a conventional biopic than an impressionistic, sensory immersion into the much-mythologized downtown-Manhattan art world of the 1980s. Jeffrey Wright, in his first lead film role, stars as the visionary artist whose rise from graffiti tagger to art star forces him to confront the glare of sudden fame, along with racism, his own struggles with addiction, and the difficulties of being self-determining and free in America. Bolstered by an ensemble cast that includes a sublime performance by David Bowie channeling Andy Warhol, Schnabel’s directorial debut—presented here in the filmmaker’s own luminous black-and-white remastering—is a profoundly expressive elegy for a radiant life cut short.
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Basquiat
Black & White VersionBasquiat
Theatrical Color VersionStreaming Options
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Audio commentary featuring Julian Schnabel and writer and curator Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan
- New 4K digital restoration of the 1996 theatrical version
- New interview with actor Jeffrey Wright
- Interview from 1996 with Julian Schnabel and actor David Bowie
- Trailer
- An essay by film scholar Roger Durling