Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010) on Netflix
NR20101h 28mDocumentary
Jean-Michel Basquiat starts out painting graffiti in Manhattan under the alias SAMO and becomes an internationally known artist. Friends and associates describe that rise and its scrutiny.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb7.7/102,637 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
Jean-Michel Basquiat came to New York's art world from graffiti, working under the alias SAMO in the late 1970s before his paintings brought him international attention. A friend filmed an interview with him in 1986, and years later that footage was joined with recollections from people who knew him. They recall his friendship and collaboration with Andy Warhol, the sale of his first painting and his growing fame, while Basquiat tells his own story in interview footage. As a black artist in a field dominated by white artists, he faced racism and misconceptions even as his reputation grew, and his celebrity began to overshadow the paintings themselves.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
Director Tamra Davis filmed an interview with her friend Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1986 while she was working in a Los Angeles art gallery; after his death from a heroin overdose in 1988 she stored the footage away, and only in 2008 did gallerists at the Museum of Contemporary Art prompt her to use it.
