THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 11, 1996 TAG: 9610110034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E13 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 55 lines
ART IS SO SELDOM talked about in film that ``Basquiat'' is a general curiosity.
Proclaiming that it is ``the first mainstream film about an artist created by an artist'' is an example, beyond the film itself, of the conceit of first-time writer-director Julian Schnabel. Up until now, Schnabel had specialized quite successfully in making ``art'' from broken plates and such.
This biography of graffiti artist Jean Michel Basquiat is touching in a passive, distant way even though it eventually tells us nothing about the nature of fame, art or why Basquiat died of a heroin overdose at age 27.
Schnabel is a much better writer than he is a director. He's even better at asking favors of his party chums, because, ultimately, the most interesting thing about this film is the varied cast, including Dennis Hopper, Courtney Love, Parker Posey, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, Nemo and, yes, someone named Rockets Redglare.
In 1981, Basquiat sprung from being an unknown 19-year-old graffiti scrawler to become the toast of New York's art world. ``The authentic voice of the gutter,'' says Tatum O'Neal as a snooty art collector in one scene. He was hailed as the first black artist to crack the almost exclusively white world of 1980s art galleries.
Jeffrey Wright, who won a Tony Award for playing Roy Cohn's nurse in ``Angels in America,'' is touchingly poignant in the title role although the script gives the artist no gumption, no character and no real purpose. It's a case, supposedly, of too much too soon - an old plot.
As Andy Warhol, David Bowie is little more than the right wig. In a headlong effort to vindicate Basquiat, the film even suggests that Warhol existed in the shadow of his younger and more talented compatriot.
The film does little to explain why Basquiat might have been considered a genius, although it tells us often and noisily that he was.
Although the film is more puzzling than it is illuminating it is never boring. The unique cast members all get a moment, and they make the most of it.
In the end, though, we walk out of the theater not knowing much more than when we entered - except that this quiet, passive boy-man couldn't deal with fame and died of heroin. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW
``Basquiat''
Cast: Jeffrey Wright, David Bowie, Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper,
Michael Wincott, Courtney Love, Parker Posey, Christopher Parker,
Willem Dafoe, Tatum O'Neal, Rockets Redglare
Director and Writer: Julian Schnabel
MPAA rating: R (language, sexual situations, nudity, drugs)
Mal's rating: **1/2
Locations: Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach and the Naro in
Norfolk by CNB