Review of The Basketball Diaries (1995) by Harry W — 20 Oct 2014

Led by a young Leonardo Dicaprio and Mark Wahlberg, The Basketball Diaries sounded like a well-acted feature.

The Basketball Diaries is classified as a film which falls into the drug movie genre as it chronicles the addiction of Jim Carroll and how it drags his life down. The visual quality of the camera in The Basketball Diaries is intruiging. It is rough and grim with a sense of grey that peaks over the visual plain. This makes the film reminiscent of the classic countercultural cinematic piece Easy Rider. It is specifically intruiging considering that The Basketball Diaries was made in 1995. The visual syle of the fim comined withthe suject matter of the film and its story make it also reminiscent of the film of the same year Kids. The only thin is that it is very reminscent of Kids for better and for worse. While it maintains much of the visual styland atmospherics grit of Kids, it also shows to be lacking in much of a substantial plot. It does maintain more of consistent narrative as the plot focuses around Jim Carroll, but it is cetainly a more style over substace tale. I will admit though that the style of the feature is great because the rough edge of the camera's visuals and stylistic angles give the film a truly rough atmosphere which is exactly the feeling that it needs. It is all edited very stylishly and given a perfect soundtrack as well, so the intended atmosphere in The Basketball Diaries is easily established. Everything in the film looks and sounds good which really does give it the feeling of a modern day Easy Rider without as much of the counterculture elements but with the edge of Kids. The entire film is very dgy, and Scott Kalver's direction on the feature is just what it needs. The issue is that it serves as an example of a text which is a lot better on paper than on film.

The screenplay in The Basketball Diaries captures a lot of the language from Jim Carroll's source material in describing his drug addiction. But as a film, it fails to be able to provide the same kind of insight. The Basketball Diaries is a tale which would work better as a novel due to the the fact that the narrative moments in the film are intruiging and prove that the film has deep intentions. Scott Kalvert is able to make up for the lack of depth in the film adaptation by incorporating a firm visual style into the experience, but it fails to carry over a lot of the artistic meaning in Jim Carroll's source material. While the source material is considered to be a classic piece of adolescent literature, it is difficult to consider the film adaptation a classic of any sort. It is an ambitious feature film, but the source material is very limited in how far it can go as a film. Scott Kalvert finds how far it can go without being too inwardly focused. The Basketball Diaries is less of a complex story of Jim Carroll's life, and more of a straight up tale about drug addiction which uses his life as a medium for the tale. In that sense it succeeds, but it does seem as if there is a lot of story left out which deserved an explanation. The storytelling in The Basketball Diaries is good, there just isn't all that much of a story to it which means that it focuses a lot more on subject matter. I never read the original novel, but I'm aware that it lacked many of Jim Carroll's thoughts such the insight into his sexual experiences, his cold war paranoia and the counterculture movement.

The one thing that gives The Basketball Diaries a feeling of humanity to it is the performances of the cast. Everyone makes a fine effort, but nobody holds a candle to the charismatic dramatic talents of Leonardo DiCaprio.

Leonardo DiCaprio is just excellent in The Basketball Diaries. He is known for being a critically acclaimed actor with an incredible talent for getting deeply involved in the characters he plays. Yet in a twist of fate, the way he gets deeply involved in Jim Carroll is to lose contact with the part and with the universe of the film. He portrays the man in a very spaced out and troubled fashion, and that is precisely the edge that the role needs to succeed. Leonardo DiCaprio is rarely as edgy and gritty as in The Basketball Diaries, and his performance stands out as being one of his most physically brutal ones. He makes Jim Carroll is a very sympathetic leading man with line delivery which is so sick and twisted, and physical acting which is twice as effective. Leonardo DiCaprio's abilities in the role are so shockingly powerful because they are scary and intimidating as well as sympathetic. It is just brutal to watch Leonardo DiCaprio destroy himself in the role of Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries. It is one of his much less glamourized performances, and the dramatic effect of it is so shockingly powerful that it reminds us precisely how versatile and skilled he is as an actor. He anchors the heart of The Basketball Diaries which gives it a certain level of humane depth and makes it emotionally effective, so his leading performance is an easily welcome one.

Mark Wahlberg is also excellent. Although his quantity of screen time is not as large as one might hope, he makes a grand impact during his time in the film. His supporting role captures the right level of tension with ease, and the nature of his chemistry with Leonardo DiCaprio is so easy that it does them both favours. Mark Wahlberg's performance is a fearless one, capturing a lot of naturally dark emotional strength which contributes to the edge of the film really nicely. He makes a great impact during the limited screentime of his supporting role, and the characterization of his character's relationship with Jim Carroll pays the narrative some favours.

So The Basketball Diaries is not much of a deep film and lacks the more complex thoughts of the source material, but Leonardo DiCaprio's amazing lead performance and Scott Kalvert's stylish direction makes it an effective feature.