Ritorno dal nulla

When you've watched plenty of movies based on some drug-addict life story you can't help compare them... I mean, the story is always the same: a guy begins having drugs for fun, or because he's boring, or just because he's young and wants to try new experiences, then he gets hooked, starts to rob or to prostitute himself, and eventually ends up in prison. That's what we see in Christiane F., El Pico, Trainspotting, Drugstore Cowboy... There may be differences in the form, and in the characters, but the content is always the same.

The dinstictive feature of Basketball Diaries is that the main character actually exists: Jim Carroll, a writer-singer-performer born in NYC in the 50's. And this is supposed to be his autobiography (or the cinema adaptation of some diaries he wrote when he was a teenager, heroin-addicted). Because of that, Basketball D. is more poetic than the rest of the movies I named before, the voice over of DiCaprio's character is present all along the film, telling us about his thoughts (rather nihilistic's) , with a style near to Burroughs or Jack Kerouac, urban poetry, tough and without ornament. Maybe that's the strong point of Basketball Diaries, because movies such as Christiane F. or El Pico recreates much better what it means to be a drug-addict, they're much more explicit, more dirty, much harder...

DiCaprio's performance deserves a new paragraph, 'cause it's simply astonishing. His best performance EVER, plenty of different shades. As he did in Gilbert Grape or This Boy's Life, he shows us how versatile he can be. If only he'd choose better the films he works in.

My rate: 7/10

For the past few years, "The Basketball Diaries" has been blamed for a rash of disconnected school massacres in the United States. The anti-media zealots who blame school violence on the fantasy sequence, where Jim Carroll(Leonardo DiCaprio) barges into his classroom to kill everyone in sight, starting with his teacher, ignore the facts, as usual.

The reasons that Carroll fantasized about this killing spree were; 1)The teacher got a sick thrill from beating his pupils, and 2)Carroll was high on heroin. Of course, one does not need to become a drug addict, in order to desire revenge against power mad tyrants, who exploit people that they believe themselves to be morally superior to. As for the kids of Columbine High, and other pre-Columbine mass-murderers, most of them were either bullies, or victims of bullies. The fact that they were fans of this movie is irrelevant. If what I'm saying isn't true, then perhaps the opponents of free speech would like to tell me why there weren't a rash of school shootings following the 1968 movie "If..."

Rent, or buy an original copy of this film for the following reasons; 1)The talent of Leonardo DiCaprio, 2)The explanation for that controversial fantasy sequence, and 3)The music video for the song "People Who Died,' by the REAL Jim Carroll, just in case you thought that when he made that song 20 years ago, he was only kidding.

An uncompromising script and a solid performance from Leonardo Di Caprio help make THE BASKETBALL DIARIES a powerful and memorable film experience. Leo plays Jim Carroll, a high school student with a love of basketball and a flare for writing whose life goes right down the toilet when he becomes a heroine addict. Yes, perhaps Leo gets hooked a little too quickly but everything that happens to him after he gets hooked is totally real. Along with CLEAN AND SOBER, this movie so clearly and honestly demonstrates where drug addiction can take you...how nothing else becomes important but how and where that next high is coming from. There is one harrowing scene after another here. We see Jim returning to his mother (Lorraine Bracco) after being kicked out of the house and we see Jim turn from begging child to threatening thug in a matter of seconds, a scene brilliantly performed by DiCaprio. We see Jim and his friends beat up an old lady for her purse and we even see Jim prostitute himself with a man in order to get money. It's a frightening and realistic spiral downward that Jim takes and he does make it back, but it is important to remember when watching this film that a lot don't. DiCaprio gets solid support from future star Mark Wahlberg, Bruno Kirby, Jr., Juliette Lewis, and Michael Imperioli. A harrowing film experience that will not be forgotten once the credits roll.

I think 'The basketball diaries' is a realistic and very important movie. It shows the road that one walks to being addicted to drugs. From taking dope once a week to taking dope every day, every hour. Leonardo DiCaprio playes a basketballplayer, a schoolkid(Jim Carrol) who walks this path. He experiments with drugs 'till there is no way back. He gets himself in all kinds of stupid situations. He starts robbing stores, ripping off money from old ladies just to get some cash for dope. His life is beginning to look like a living hell. His basketballcoach wants to have sex with him, and when he passes out on the basketballfield due to taking a wrong kind of 'pep-pil', he gets kicked out of the basketball team and from school. From this moment on everything goes in a downward spiral for DiCaprio.

An excellent scenario you would say, and it is. The acting from DiCaprio is great. We saw it earlier on in his career when he got oscar-nominated for 'What's eating gilbert grape'. A gripping drama in which he playes a disabled kid. But in 'The basketball diaries' he playes an equally difficult part. Not a lot actors would have put down this kid who's life is wrecked, and who is constantly thinking about dope as well as DiCaprio did.

The statement the movie delivers is a powerfull one. Being addicted to drugs is horrible. Usually people learn about this aspect trough seminars or televisonshows such as Oprah Winfrey. But it never really gets the kind of attention and understanding from the audience as 'The Basketball diaries' delivers.

The amazing performance by DiCaprio, the fact that this movie is actually based on a true story and the reality the movie is set in, 'The basketball diaries' deserves a 9 out of 10.

I remember that when the Columbine shootings happened, some people blamed "The Basketball Diaries". When I saw the movie, I couldn't understand the connection at all. True, there's a school shooting scene, but focusing only on that misses the movie's point. The movie is the true story of New York teenager Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) and how he descended into the ugly world of drug addiction. If you're squeamish, then I should warn you that there are some pretty nasty scenes of drug addiction and what happens.

Yes, it's ugly what happens, but that's what makes the movie so good: they're not afraid to get down and dirty. Also starring are Lorraine Bracco as Jim's mother, Mark Wahlberg as Jim's friend, Bruno Kirby as the high school coach, Juliette Lewis as an acquaintance, and Ernie Hudson as a man who saves Jim from dying out in the cold.

Like I said, this is not a movie for the fainthearted. But otherwise, I truly recommend it.