Basquiat (1996)
by Julian Schnabel (Director)
[US info]: Miramax, 2002. DVD region 1 (usa & canada). rated R.
[UK info]: Cinema Club, 2003. DVD region 2. class 15.
"Andy Warhol was a phenomenon who warrants a lot of explaining: a completely colorless mega-star celebrity, and a kind of LaBrea Tarpit for a vivid and talented collection of oddballs in the New York scene. He fostered their continued degeneration into weird lifestyles and heavy drug use; and at the same time acted as their mentor, agent, and sponsor. One artist who came to be part of Warhol's "scene" was Jean Michel Basquiat, an antisocial street-bum who went from writing graffiti on alley walls to being the toast of New York City's art world. This film biography chronicles the progression of Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright) and his progression from living in cardboard boxes to penthouses, his romances, his drug use, and his death in 1988 at age 27. ..."
--new york times
Downtown 81 (2000)
by Edo Bertoglio (Director)
Zeitgeist Video, 2002. DVD region 1 (usa & canada)
Shot as "New York Beat" in 1980-81 but completed for release only last year, "Downtown 81" emerges as a nostalgic portrait of pre-Giuliani Manhattan, an unruly place full of garbage, graffiti, rubble-strewn lots, unlicensed after-hours clubs and highly idealistic kids eager to make their mark as avant-garde artists and musicians. The film's central figure is Jean, a young bohemian engagingly played by a not yet famous Jean-Michel Basquiat. The fictional character's life bears a powerful resemblance to Basquiat's own at the time: he is a struggling musician and graffiti artist living on the Lower East Side, trying to patch a life together from cadged meals and drink tickets and the occasional sale of a painting.
--Dave Kehr for The New York Times
Style Wars (1983)
by Tony Silver (Director)
Plexifilm, 2003. 2-disc DVD. DVD region 1 (usa & canada). no rating.
"When director Tony Silver and co-producer Henry Chalfant delivered the broadcast version of their prize-winning film to PBS in 1983, the world received its first full immersion in the phenomenon that had taken over New York City. The urban landscape was physically transformed by graffiti artists who invented a new visual language to express both their individuality, and the voice of their community. In STYLE WARS, New York's ramshackle subway system is their public playground, battleground, and spectacular artistic canvas. Opposing them by every means possible are Mayor Ed Koch, the police, and the New York Transit Authority. Meanwhile, as MC's, DJ's and B-boys rock the city with new sounds and new moves, we see street corner breakdance battles turn into performance art. "
Trumac : De Paris à South Bronx
by ATN
Resistance Films, 2003. DVD zone 2 (europe, middle east, japan)
Wild Style (1983)
by Lee Quinones, Lady Pink, Charlie Ahearn (Director)
[US info]: Wea Corp, 2002. rated R.
[UK info]: Cinema Club, 2003. class 15.
"Wild Style presents to us what the hip-hop/rap scene was back in the days of the early 1980s, New York City. It's raw, it's live, and it's real, with a few parts fictionalized. All the action takes place in the South Bronx with its gritty backdrop of bombed out buildings, and graffiti stricken subway lines. Graffiti artists are bombing the subway without mercy. There are club scenes featuring DJs, and rappers in clubs spinning for fame and respect. The influence, curiosity, and the money of mainstream media have yet to creep it's way into hip-hop, but it is beginning. And all the action culminates with the final scene at a little amphitheater on the Lower East Side. With footage by the Cold Crush Brothers, Fantastic Five, Grandmaster Flash, and the Rocksteady Crew. " rkchin
Writers 1983-2003, 20 ans de Graffiti à Paris
by Marc-Aurele Vecchione (Director)
Resistance Films, 2004. DVD region 2 (europe, middle east, japan)
