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Review

It's 1981 - lower Manhattan and "New Wave" music (which came after punk) has swept the island in a sea of large bands, sophisticated music, club hopping and pansexuality. This film was shot at the height of the madness in the neighborhoods and clubs of the Lower East Side - The Mudd Club, The Peppermint Lounge and on the street corner. Gentrification has certainly not hit yet, and there is true grit here. Enter graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose simple poetry started appearing all over town - signed with the ubiquitous "Samo". Basquiat took the art by storm, within a few years of his appearance, his paintings were hanging in the museums of the world and one-man shows were a regular happening for him. Basquiat is the star of this long-lost treasure that shows us a day in the life of this now-mythical art world figure. During the daylight, he meets his buddies on street, scores some pot, does some graffiti, gets evicted from his apartment, sells a painting - and this is all during the day. When night falls the film really picks up - he roams from club to club taking in some amazing music along the way: Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Walter Steding and James White and the Blacks.

While the speaking parts are dubbed in voice-overs and the film less than perfect, Downtown 81 is a remarkable artifact of an intensely creative era. The music superb, the art first-rate and the film truly compelling.

Scott Cranin