Legendary painter, graffiti artist, poet and musician Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was only 19 years old when he played the lead in DOWNTOWN 81, a striking "lost" film that chronicles the explosive early-'80s Manhattan art and music scene. Completed and theatrically released two decades later, it's the story of a charismatic artist who attempts to sell a painting amidst the rappers, junkies, strippers, models and art-world matriarchs of a pre-Giuliani Lower East Side. This vividly entertaining slice of life is also a fabulous showcase for the music of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Tuxedomoon, The Plastics, DNA, The Lounge Lizards, and Basquiat's own band, Gray. Shot on location, DOWNTOWN 81 not only captures one of the most important and provocative artists of the 20th-century as he is poised for worldwide fame, but is also a vivid snapshot of a New York City that no longer exists.
Watching Downtown 81, as the great artist Basquiat's dream voiceovers season scenes of him walking the early 80s NYC streets, we know the end is nigh, that the city as mecca for REAL artists was dying a quick death, but what a beautiful corpse this film is. To see these avant artists like DNA play there skronk exhilarates, but the bad taste of Art and the life of the Artist becoming a commodity for those who can afford it is disheartening. Maybe we can dream of a new wasteland the Have's, for once, won't wanna snatch away. Then those that live to create can go home again. In the meantime watch this DVD, it was as much a reality as it was a dream.
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