BASQUIAT (48)

Directed by: Julian Schnabel

Starring: Jeffrey Wright, David Bowie, Dennis Hopper, Michael Wincott

The Pitch: The story of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a young Haitian-American who rose from graffiti artist to the darling of the 80s gallery scene.

Theo Sez: Any film that begins with the Pogues singing "Fairytale of New York" obviously has a fine appreciation for pop-culture ; any film that monkeys around with it, repeating the verse and leaving out the chorus, obviously imagines that we don't. It's just a detail, but it seems somehow typical of the careless condescension in this movie - a biopic that offers next to no background on its subject (presumably, its target audience will already be familiar with it) and tries to camouflage its banal rise 'n fall narrative with visually striking distractions like a crashing wave superimposed over the New York skyline. You can't quite call it a failure, if only because the banality is camouflaged : the combination of visual flash, jump-cuts, druggy "trip" sequences, intricate sound design (driven by, and reflecting, Basquiat's "inner voices"), songs by the likes of Tom Waits and the Modern Lovers, and a procession of offbeat talents in suitably eccentric roles - highlights including Wincott's ferocious brand of flamboyant sleaze and Bowie's fey, dotty Andy Warhol - all adds up to a divertingly unconventional movie. Hipness quotient is off the scale ; insight and dramatic force are less apparent.