I was able to see a rough cut screening of Tamara Davis’s upcoming new movie Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child as well as a brief Q and A afterwords. I like JMB and the whole New York scene of the early eighties so I was looking forward to this, but at the same time I was hoping for something really new that I hadn’t seen before that helps tear down or build up the mythology. Davis’s film, the core of which is her footage shot a year or so (maybe more) before his death is really strong, I just wish there were more of that and less people talking about him.
Davis’s goal is to humanize the mythology of JMB and she gets close, and I’m sure will get closer as she continues to dial in the movie, as I stated before – the movie is a rough cut and it’s strong. I wonder if I’m too close to the subject matter to see it as a “normal” viewer.
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child will premier at Sundance later this winter. I think Miss Davis has some work in front of her.
do you know of any other screenings of this film coming up soon?