The Basketball Diaries

Scott Kalvert, USA 1995, 102 minutes

An autobiographical account of a young boy's (ab)use of drugs. Based on the life and work of the poet Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio), it charts his late teenage years with a brutal frankness that makes this harrowing, yet strangely affecting.

Sixteen-year-old Jim is an extremely promising basketball player in high-school, who loses his will to play and hence his opportunity to go professional when drug use takes over his life.

Despite its title, however, this is not a film primarily about basketball. The `Basketball Diaries' themselves are Jim's writings of the time. A mix of hallucinogenic poetry and rambling prose, they chronicle his experiences living wild with his friends on the streets of New York in the late '70s. Serving as a first-person narrative, the Diaries show us that Jim is not a hardened drug-user so much as a sensitive, confused and almost tragic figure whose hardships include alienation from his peers and his family, and watching helpless as his best friend dies of leukemia.

The book's action has been updated to the present day. The unflinching depiction of not only the lows but also (and importantly, in terms of three-dimensional character development) the highs of drug use shows similarities with Trainspotting, but here we see more of the slide down into mad dog addiction and more of the effects on the user's nearest and dearest. The scene in which a drooling, rabid Carroll tries to go home and is refused entry by his terrified, tearful mother (Lorraine Bracco) is incredibly intense.

DiCaprio's animal performance shows a degree of maturity and honesty rare in one so young, and confirms him as one of the most exciting of the new crop of young actors. Also, Mark Wahlberg (aka Marky Mark) proves a surprisingly able foil as Mickey. You'll never touch drugs after seeing this film. Fact.

"DiCaprio keeps the film interesting with a game, highly emotional performance" - Variety

Review by Katherine Davey
Taken from EUFS Programme 1996-97