Wild child Jean-Michel Basquiat spent the 1980s partying and creating, much like the other members of the Downtown 500. In Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, director Tamra Davis chronicles Jean-Michel’s story from prosperous start to heartbreaking finish.

Basquiat began his life in a well-to-do family, but at 17 he ran away from home to live off his art.

What started as poetic graffiti became neo-expressionist masterpieces that now sell for millions of dollars.

He advanced into a much-celebrated talent at the height of his career and is still thought of as an artistic genius.

Life as a celebrity weighed on Basquiat. After the death of friend and mentor Andy Warhol, Basquiat’s heroin habit became a compulsive need. He died of an overdose in 1988 when he was 27.

The film’s focus on a brilliant but distraught artist is unoriginal, unlike Basquiat’s art.

This man was revolutionary not only because he was the first artist of African descent to be internationally recognized, but because his art broke new ground. He called it “Boom for real,” meaning a galaxy of reality that exploded. 

In 1985, Davis shot one of the only interviews ever recorded with Basquiat, but, after his death in 1988, she didn’t touch the footage again until 2006.

Her dialogue with Basquiat evolved into a documentary after she met with those who knew and loved him – ex-girlfriends, Fab 5 Freddy, Tony Shafranzi and a list of others.

“He was one of the people I was really envious of ... but he was too fragile for this world,” Madonna is quoted as saying in the film.

The film is a little dry at times but the subject is still thought-provoking. Davis reveals Basquiat in an honest light and lets the audience in on his compassion, as well as his anguish in life.