Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Film poster
Directed bySara Driver
Produced by
  • Rachel Dengiz
  • Sara Driver
Starring
CinematographyAdam Benn
Edited byAdam Kurnitz
Production
company
Hells Kitten Productions
Distributed byMagnolia Pictures
Release dates
  • September 8, 2017 (2017-09-08) (Toronto)
  • May 11, 2018 (2018-05-11) (United States)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$193,520[1]

Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Sara Driver. It tells the story about Jean-Michel Basquiat and the New York City art scene in the late 1970s.[2] The film had its premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2017.[3] It was released in the United States on May 11, 2018.[4]

Cast

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Production

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The idea for the film originally came from The New School's panel discussion about Jean-Michel Basquiat's early life.[5] About a month or two later, Hurricane Sandy hit New York City.[5] A scientist Alexis Adler, who is Sara Driver's friend and lived with Basquiat, had put Basquiat's drawings and writings in a bank vault.[5] She went to the bank and found them safe.[5] In a 2018 interview with Interview, Driver recalled, "I saw what she had and I was like, this is not only a window into him, but this is a window into New York at that particular moment in time."[5] For example, the film contains extensive coverage of Colab, The Real Estate Show, The Times Square Show and ABC No Rio through on-camera interviews with once Colab president Coleen Fitzgibbon and art critic Carlo McCormick.[5]

Release

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The film had its premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2017.[3] Subsequently, Magnolia Pictures acquired the North American rights to the film.[6] It was released in the United States on May 11, 2018.[4]

Reception

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On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat offers an insightful look into a key period of the artist's life, his peers and influences, and the early '80s art world."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8]

Wendy Ide of The Observer gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and commented that "Boom for Real is as much an account of a specific, thrillingly gritty period in New York's art history as it is a portrait of the young Basquiat."[9] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Fame, money and addiction are a world away from Boom for Real, a movie that understands how, even for an artist with more ambition and more willingness to play the game than most of his peers, creativity can still be its own reward."[10] Owen Gleiberman of Variety called the film "compact but highly resonant".[11] Matt Fagerholm of RogerEbert.com gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing, "Driver is a fascinating and crucial artist in her own right, and I'd love to see her make more movies."[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat". The Numbers. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  2. ^ Aftab, Kaleem (June 20, 2018). "Sara Driver on getting behind the camera for the first time in 24 years: 'It's still so difficult for women'". The Independent. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  3. ^ a b N'Duka, Amanda (September 8, 2017). "'Boom For Real' Clip: Sara Driver's Documentary On Famed Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat – Toronto". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Scott, H. Alan (May 10, 2018). "2018 Summer Movies List: Release Dates for Deadpool 2, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and More". Newsweek. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Nwadiogbu, Ngozi (May 7, 2018). "Five things we learned from the Basquiat documentary, Boom for Real". Interview. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  6. ^ Hipes, Patrick (October 4, 2017). "Jean-Michel Basquiat Docu 'Boom For Real' Acquired By Magnolia Pictures". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  7. ^ "Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  8. ^ "Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  9. ^ Idee, Wendy (June 24, 2018). "Boom for Real review – a vivid portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat". The Observer. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  10. ^ DeFore, John (September 10, 2017). "'Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat': Film Review | TIFF 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  11. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (May 8, 2018). "Film Review: 'Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat'". Variety. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  12. ^ Fagerholm, Matt (May 11, 2018). "Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
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