Today was the Television premier of the new French Documentary “Basquiat Une Vie” on France5 at 21:40. It can now be seen streaming online, until the 28th. Rightly called by Suzanne Mallouk “a very beautiful documentary,”  the biopic is also a picture of New York at the time, portraying the artist as “a romantic heart of a society in decline.”

After so much has already been written about the Basquiat and his work, and we have seen Tamra Davis’s great recent documentary and other semi-fictional films, as well as the interpretations in poetry and poetic prose, there would not seem to be much new to be said. But the fluid editing, arresting visuals, and personal reminiscences of Suzanne Mallouk, along with Kai Eric, Maripol , Michael Holman, Nick Taylor, Glenn O’Brien, etc. give fascinating and moving new details to the old stories.

Especially interesting is the use of amazing original Super 8 film taken by Eric Johnson of Basquiat’s smooth confident scrawling with marker in his SAMO period.  It has never before been released. Some great early photographs of Basquiat working by Roland Hagenberg are also put to good use, along with the better known photos and clips from Downtown 81 and the Canal Zone video of “SAMO” with Holman. Shots of Basquiat’s friends as they are today, walking around the same Manhattan blocks, adds movement to the film, a connection with the street, and a bittersweet feeling of time lost.  

About halfway through the film, with the discussion of drugs, the story turns from one of the cross-currents of creative bohemian life to the better known one of artistic success and personal decline.  At this point you also get a bit tired of the repeated clips from Downtown 81, but the story of his relationship with Andy Warhol, and Bruno Bischofberger’s commentary picks the pace up again. 

If I had to pick just one documentary to explain Jean-Michel and his times, it would still be Tamra's Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. But they both have much to offer and (in addition to the SAMO footage remarkable in itself) Basquiat, Une Vie is a visually moving well structured film with many ideas of its own.

Ouattara Watts was an African-born artist working in Paris when he met Jean-Michel. They traveled to New Orleans together, and were scheduled to visit the Ivory Coast together when Basquiat died. To see Outtara in his studio, still working, and talking of Basquiat towards the end of the film was especially moving, making you think again in a new way about what Basquiat could still be doing if alive today.

The film was directed by Jean-Michel Vecchiet, and produced by Penelope-PMP, Polyester Films for French TV. It can be seen streaming after it's televised premier on October 21st until Thursday, October 28th (21:47),  at: http://www.tv-replay.fr/21-10-10/basquiat-une-vie-france5-pluzz-7076411.html.