The Basketball Diaries (1995)

Purely Joyful Movie!

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Great Film overall

I was 15 when I first saw this film and I think that I watched it at the perfect time in my life, I was able to relate to a lot of the emotions the characters were feeling at this turbulent time in a teenagers life. Leonardo Dicaprio's acting in this is some of his best and he captures brilliantly the painful descent into drug addiction.There is lots of swearing and violence is also common place: two groups of boys get into a fight, the main character has a dream in which he strides into school with a shotgun and shoots his classmate and teacher, an old woman is mugged and then attacked by two main characters, a character is threatened violently by a bigger man, a man falls off a roof and onto a car below (he dies).Drug use is, obviously, also common: characters smoke cigarettes and weed, they snort cocaine, take a wide variety of pills and inject themselves with heroine (the actual injection isn't shown on screen but we see the tourniquet, the needle, the drug, and the scars on a characters arm).Sex is also present: there is a scene with a scantily clad stripper, two characters kiss passionately, there is a sex scene off screen and we see the two characters half-dressed in bed afterwards. Prostitution is another theme with many people often offering the main character money for sex, including a male teacher. There is only one scene where prostitution actually takes place however it is harrowing, nothing is explicit but we see money exchanging hands before the older gentlemen gets on his knees and the main character unzips his trousers.Ultimately this film is a warning and so nothing is held back (including a disturbing scene in which a character goes through excruciating withdrawal), its the kind of film that when its over it stays with you. It's become one of my firm favourites.

Now this movie- oh boy, it's a toughie. If you haven't seen this movie yet, see it AS SOON AS YOU CAN. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance as Jim Carroll is spot on. It seems that he really has an addiction to cocaine and heroin. Yes, he was trained by a coach to study the physical and mental side effects of drugs, but other than that he was a- mazing. Mark Wahlberg was okay, too, I guess. But he was actually addicted to cocaine when he was a teen, so it was easier for him. You think Trainspotters is good? Check this out! It will definitely make you think twice about drug and alcohol abuse, trust me. If you struggled with drugs in previous years, you'll fully understand this plot. Although it isn't 100% accurate to the book, I think Mr Kalvert did a good job. So watch this movie ASAP. If you dislike DiCaprio, this will change your thoughts.

Very loosely based on the memoir of the same name, The Basketball Diaries transposes the late '60s adolescence of writer and artist Jim Carroll to some unspecified time period at least 15 years later, further confusing the time frame with three decades of rock music, some by Carroll himself.The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, James Madio, and Mark Wahlberg.It was directed by Scott Kalvert.Jim and his Catholic school chums are on the hottest basketball team in New York, but their friend Bobby languishes in the hospital with leukemia. In-between typically boyish adventures, Jim scribbles in his notebook and experiments with sex and drugs. His group of friends begins to disintegrate after coach Swifty not only makes a pass at Jim, but also catches him and his pals using drugs on the court and kicks them off the team. Out of school and on the streets, Jim turns tricks, betrays friends, robs stores, and deals drugs to feed his heroin addiction. Not even the efforts of former addict Reggie can cure Jim.Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother's mounting concern for her son. He cannot go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin for which he steals, robs and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim "picked up a game" now and then, is he able to begin the long journey back to sanity, which ultimately ends with Jim's incarceration in a state penitentiary. After months in the hospital, he gets out and later does a talk show about his drug life, but before that he turned down free drugs given to him by his old friend, Pedro.Jim started out as a practice basketball player, and moved on to writing his memoirs.Although it masquerades as a cautionary tale about the horrors of heroin, this epic of teen-age angst is more accurately seen as a reverential wallow in the gutter of self-absorption.One thing about the plot is that the view never understand what really motivated this intelligent adolescent, a gifted basketball player and sensitive writer, to descend into the hellish life of a drug addict and hustler on the mean streets of New York.It only showed how drugs can destroy one's life.As for the movie,it was a must-see as you get a glimpse of the great actor Leonardo DiCaprio is going to be.

Basketball Diaries, The (1995) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Powerful adaptation of Jim Carroll's autobiographical account of his free fall from good student to heroin addict isn't a pretty film to watch but there's no denying its power. Leonard DiCaprio, in his first starring role, plays Carroll who when we first meet him is playing sports and is still in school but soon his minor drug habits start to spin out of control and he finds himself hooked, living on the streets and any hope for the future is nearly gone. I remember going to see THE BASKETBALL DIARIES a week after my fifteenth birthday and still remember what effect it had on me. I really didn't understand all the negative reviews the movie got at the time of its release but I found the film to be remarkably powerful and the message against drug abuse is still very strong in today's time. What all people then agreed on is that star DiCaprio seemed like he could do anything in the world. Coming after supporting roles in films like THIS BOYS LIFE and WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE, this was certainly a departure from those two films but it was a real eye-opener because there's some of the most raw and powerful acting that you're ever going to see. The final thirty-minutes of the film pretty much has DiCaprio playing a drugged out character who is just inches away from death and the brutality of the performance is something one isn't going to forget. This is hands down a performance that once you see it it's unlikely to leave your mind and DiCaprio really gives it his all and it's really hard to think of another actor out there who could have given so much to the part. The way DiCaprio just crumbles under the drug abuse is so chilling and haunting that you really do feel as if you're watching a real addict and not just an actor playing a part. The support cast are also quite good with Ernie Hudson coming off extremely strong as a man trying to save the kid and Lorraine Bracco as his mother. Mark Wahlberg, Bruno Kirby and Juliette Lewis are also strong in their roles. I think there are a few issues with the film including too much attempted style by the director and this is really apparent during a sequence where DiCaprio is suffering from withdrawals. The acting is strong enough so the stylistic touches by the director are more distracting than anything else. The screenplay has taken some heat from people but I thought it was pretty good and captured the free-spirit of the novel, which it's based on. THE BASKETBALL DIARIES is as relevant today as it was when first released and it's certainly a terrific showcase for its star who has gone on to prove all those early critics right when they called him one of the greatest actors coming up. The film is a haunting reminder of the downsides of drugs and the rawness of the performances make it hard to watch at times but there's no denying its power.