Sara Driver's Doc. BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat at NY Film Festival

Amer indept. filmmaker, Sara Driver (b 1955) is known for both documentaries (Uncle Howard) and featured films (Broken Flowers, starring Bill Murray).  BOOM FOR REAL is a doc. about artist Jean-Michel Basquiat's life (b Amer 196-1988) during his late teens in late 1970s & early '80s. The film hovers around Basquiat and we observe him at a distance while focusing on NYC's dilapidated lower east side.  It was a haven for heroin addicts and a Mecca for the insurgent epoch of graffiti gestural painting, hip hop, performance art and partying/drug scene.  The foundation sprung from the urban squalor & abandonment of buildings & businesses gestating a nihilistic, self-destructive and numerous forms of rebellious expression. The photos, videos and glimpses we get of Basquiat are intriguing.  So too, are the interviews from people he knew juxtaposed with photos of them during from the past.  During his late teens Basquiat was the Bansky of his day.  His writings were poignant, cryptic & poetic and tagged with the acronym SAMO.* Bansky was also a clarinet player in a jazz/rock band.   The footage from this era in NYC, particularly of the young emerging artists and nightclub scenes and barren streets lay the groundwork for a Phoenix rising from the ashes.  Interviews from his peers paint a rambunctious, restless & ambitious young man, rootless but determined to become not only an accomplished artist but gain notoriety.  There are common threads from those who knew him labeling him as a self-promoter, opportunist, charismatic unpredictable and a "gadfly".  This movement of young artists were basically ignored by galleries & art dealers.  They began to hold their own shows in abandoned buildings & public spaces.  The Village Voice picked up on the Times Square Art Show in June 1980 and the floodgates opened garnering mass attention.  This intelligent & enlightening doc. is exceptional.  The construct frames Basquiat within an era which helped foster his emerging genius.  As NYC was crumbling, Basquiat was developing his voice & his art.  His work puts him alongside artists DeKooning and Pollack.   From the decaying streets where Basquiat lived during his late teens, he soared above the ruination.  We never hear the voice of Basquiat in the film but this remarkable doc. gives voice to his omnipotent artistic expressions.