Downtown 81

Downtown 81
by Edo Bertoglio

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DVD details

Actor: Eszter Balint, Jean Michel Basquiat, John Lurie, Ted Bafaloukos, Tom Baker
Director: Edo Bertoglio
Cinematographer: John McNulty
Editor: Pamela French
Producer: Glenn O'Brien
Writer: Glenn O'Brien
Producer: Maripol
Producer: Michael Zilkha
Producer: Patrick Montgomery
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 72 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Zeitgeist Films

DVD Reviews of Downtown 81

DVD Review: Downtown 81 Must See Art Movie
Summary: 4 Stars

Downtown 81 is a must see for those who enjoy learning about art or just love Basquiat. It's less than 2 hours and is a little funky. If you don't like experimental art movies, you probably won't like it. Well done!

DVD Review: Great footage of Basquiat
Summary: 5 Stars

This film is raw. You get to peek back to the 1980s New York art scene and feel like you're walking down the streets and into the clubs with Basquiat. It's incredible to see the man behind the myth, even if it is just a snapshot. I had been disappointed by Jeffrey Wright's portrayal of Basquiat in the 1996 film and was always curious to see some footage of the real Basquiat so watching this film was an incredible experience. Unfortuntely you don't get to see him paint. The film also feels unfinished, but I recall reading somewhere that they didn't get all of the footage they wanted. I loved the fairy tale mood they were going for, but it could have been more emphatic. They could have had Basquiat draw on the film reel to create cartoonish figures in the frames and they could have used more devices to create a parable. Debbie Harry pops up briefly in the film. Brilliant time capsule back to NYC with Basquiat.

DVD Review: Eerily timeless & worth owning for Basquiat fans & early '80s scene
Summary: 5 Stars

Initially dubious about this film, I read every Amazon review before purchasing and was pleased to find the quality and substance even better than I'd hoped. I love the movie "Basquiat" and now I'm amazed how well it portrayed the artist & his life, having now seen Downtown 81. Don't miss the Special Features, particularly the photo galleries; it was gratifying to learn than many of the talented people associated with the film have really made something of their lives. We can only wonder what more Basquiat would have achieved or how his art would have evolved if he were alive today. But at least we have his art of the '80s, and this film.

DVD Review: This Is Not By Vincent Gallo
Summary: 4 Stars

This is a very indie film. Left in someones basement or attic because they couldn't finish editing it at the time... it has been miraculously preserved and released. This is not eye opening cinema.It is jaw dropping footage of the lower east side and the village. You will not see it like that in New York now. The movie trails along behind basquiat in this fictional account of what it is to be on the everyday side of things for the artist and the art scene. Based on some real life; most aspects feel staged instead of actual accounts and it is a film not a documentary. Written by Glenn O'Brien.

DVD Review: An Oddity
Summary: 2 Stars

I thought the movie was disjointed, it lacked subject matter. Very odd.

Description of Downtown 81

Legendary painter, graffiti artist, poet and musician Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was only 19 years old when he played the lead in DOWNTOWN 81, a striking "lost" film that chronicles the explosive early-'80s Manhattan art and music scene. Completed and theatrically released two decades later, it's the story of a charismatic artist who attempts to sell a painting amidst the rappers, junkies, strippers, models and art-world matriarchs of a pre-Giuliani Lower East Side. This vividly entertaining slice of life is also a fabulous showcase for the music of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Tuxedomoon, The Plastics, DNA, The Lounge Lizards, and Basquiat's own band, Gray. Shot on location, DOWNTOWN 81 not only captures one of the most important and provocative artists of the 20th-century as he is poised for worldwide fame, but is also a vivid snapshot of a New York City that no longer exists.

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