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Basquiat, Directed by Julian Schnabel
Miramax Films, August 9, 1996 (US)
Screenplay: Julian Schnabel, based on the story by John Bowe
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Michael Wincott, Benicio Del Toro, Claire Forlani, David Bowie, Dennis Hopper, and Gary Oldman
Rene Ricard (Michael Wincott): God, I saw that painting. I’m ashamed to own anything.…. So, Sam-o.
Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright): Samo.
Rene: Samo, you got a real name?
Jean: Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Rene: Well that sounds famous already!
To grant access is a goal of art. To grant access to a world. An old world, a new world. A world. Hoping that the audience will be moved in some way so that a response will be elicited. Perhaps it is vanity that you even dare dream an audience will exist at all. But ultimately, there is nothing but the need to create. There is nothing else factored into the process. Inspiration hits giving rise to a need to create, to grant access, to take a risk. It is a brave thing to do.
The audience sits on the other side of the looking glass. What is seen? It is an exchange of worlds, a mind morph. Enter through the front door. Turn the cover of a book and go inside. Help yourself. It is a blind leap of faith, this game of the audience. To journey into the whims of another. It can be scary, funny, tranquil, deeply moving. It can even be a complete waste of time. But it is a precious ticket to be sure to be able to enter the mind of another. It is the hope of the rush—déjà vu— when the portal miraculously mirrors people and places that are already being projected in the theater of our own minds. It is affirmation, our emotions validated through a parallel universe, an extraordinary meeting of the minds. The emotional response of this connection is as immediate as it is overwhelming. There you are, back again in a seat the upper balcony of the grand old theater, the Fine Arts in Chicago, as you fly down from the balcony and leap into the screen, a character in the story of Basquiat. Julian Schnabel. Bruno, I dunno. This is good, isn’t it, Bruno?
To get lost in it is to find a way out. Jean-Michel’s responds to the world by interpreting his surroundings, surroundings that provide him a continuous flow of visual stimulation. Basquiat blends it all together with the purity of honest emotions, in turn igniting inspiration.
The need to create. A film about a painter. A loving tribute. Jean-Michel Basquiat (through painting) and Julian Schnabel (through film) grant access granting access to their domain of dreams and leaving behind emergency generators, inspiration to be tapped as needed. Glance, and you are lost. Lost, and you find a way.
-G
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