If you'd like to see Basquiat wander around in the gritty sections of early 80's New York, while encountering a rapper, New Wave bands, assorted NY freaks, and Deborah Harry as a fairy princess... then you are in luck as your tastes will be delighted in this kind of pseudo-documentary/fantasy/music video/something or other.
This rip includes a second audio track with commentary by screenwriter/co-producer Glenn O'Brien and producer Maripol.
Also included:
- Outtake footage of Basquiat spraypainting with the music of a band he was in, "Gray", playing in the background. (Which looks a lot better in the film, picture quality-wise.)
- Basquiat on O'Brien's cable tv show: "TV Party", from 1979.
- "Afterthought": a behind the scenes interview with the filmmakers (O'Brien and Maripol), created by the Sundance channel.
From IMDB:
"The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into. He finally manages to sell his painting to a wealthy female admirer, but he's paid by check. Low on cash, he spends the evening wandering from club to club, looking for a beautiful girl he had met earlier, so he'll have a place to spend the night. Downtown 81 not only captures one of the most interesting and lively artists of the twentieth century as he is poised for fame, but it is a slice of life from one of the most exciting periods in American culture, with the emergence of new wave music, new painting, hip hop and graffiti. Written by Sujit R. Varma "