Watch Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years Of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years Of Jean-Michel Basquiat is a documentary film that explores the formative years of the now legendary artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Directed by Sara Driver and released in 2017, the film provides a unique and intimate look into Basquiat's life and art during his teenage years in New York City. Through interviews with family, friends, and collaborators, the film paints a vivid picture of Basquiat's early years. We see him moving from his hometown of Brooklyn to Manhattan, where he became deeply immersed in the city's vibrant and diverse arts scene. Along the way, we also meet some of the people who influenced and inspired him, including Alexis Adler, one of his closest friends and former roommates.

Adler is one of the film's most compelling and engaging voices. A photographer and artist in her own right, she lived with Basquiat in a cramped and cluttered apartment on the Lower East Side in the late 1970s. She provides invaluable insights into the young artist's creative process, as well as his personal quirks and idiosyncrasies. We learn about his obsessive love of bebop music, his fascination with graffiti art, and his deep connection to the city's punk and hip-hop scenes.

The film also features interviews with other key figures from Basquiat's world, including Fab 5 Freddy, a graffiti artist and hip-hop pioneer who first met Basquiat during the early days of the Broadway art scene. We hear from Lee Quiñones, another influential graffiti artist from the era, as well as Annina Nosei, the gallerist who gave Basquiat his first solo show in 1982.

In addition to these talking heads, the film also incorporates a wealth of archival footage and photographs. There are clips of Basquiat hanging out with his friends, playing music, and goofing around on the streets of Manhattan. We also see some of his early paintings and drawings, which showcase his raw talent and unbridled creativity.

Throughout the film, Driver employs a loose, impressionistic style that echoes the free-flowing spirit of Basquiat's art. The film is structured around a loose narrative that takes us from Basquiat's early years in Brooklyn through his rise to fame in the 1980s. But it's not a traditional biopic; instead, it's more like a collage, a patchwork of voices and images that capture the energy and excitement of a particular time and place.

One of the film's most striking features is its soundtrack. Driver has assembled an eclectic mix of songs that reflect the diverse musical influences that shaped Basquiat's world. We hear everything from Charlie Parker to Suicide, from James Brown to Blondie. These songs help to evoke the vibrant cultural melting pot that was New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Basquiat was coming of age.

Overall, Boom For Real is a fascinating and insightful look at one of the most important and influential artists of the modern era. It offers a nuanced and multi-faceted portrait of Basquiat, showing us the complex and contradictory forces that drove him to create such powerful and enduring art. It's a must-see for anyone interested in Basquiat's life and work, or in the broader cultural history of New York City in the late 20th century.

Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years Of Jean-Michel Basquiat is a 2018 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 18 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.7 and a MetaScore of 72.