Holy Rollers is one serious trip - Sundance

The following is the 3rd entry by The Art Quarterly's Sundance correspondent, Joanna Rudolph.

11:34 AM MST - Park City, UT:

Based on a true story, the film “Holy Rollers” explores the theme of loss of innocence by following 20 year old Sam Gold (played fantastically by Jesse Eisenberg), a Hasidic Jew who transforms into a secular Jew as he takes up a new vocation-- Ecstasy smuggling.

Initially wide-eyed to the drug smuggling trade, Sam eventually embraces the 1998 Ecstasy / rave culture. In doing so, he falls further aways from his faith as evidenced by his change in attire and in a powerful scene, he chops off his curls.

Much like how Sam loses his innocence, visual artists have been known to do so as well. For example, the death of a close friend represented Picasso’s growth into adulthood and a loss of innocence, which were expressed in his paintings. Basquiat’s personal life also impacted his work in that as he became famous, his paintings became more political in terms of the themes he explored. And of course there’s the self-portrait of Van Gough, who cut off his ear, an act that can also be interpreted as a loss of innocence.

It is this "character arc" that is explored in "Holy Rollers" and seen in fine art that makes for complex and fascinating work.

Jean-Michel Basquiat is the "The Radiant Child"

This is the second entry by our Sundance TwentyTen Fest writer, Joanna Rudolph.

2:08 PM MST - Park City, UT:

Director Tamra Davis uses archival footage from youtube (a sign of the times) amongst other sources and interviews with artists such as painter turn director Julien Schnabel and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore to pay tribute to her friend Jean-Michel Basquiat in the documentary “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child.”

Not overly sentimental, "The Radiant Child" successfully chronicles the life and career of Basquiat, which significantly includes interviews with the man himself. Davis also goes one step further by turning the camera on herself, a decision she debated but ultimately went with because she wanted the film to be personal. Filmmakers are not the only artists to “turn the camera” on themselves; painters have as well in the form of self-portraits (e.g. Picasso, Rembrandt, Warhol and Schnabel). As it so happens, Warhol and Schnabel were good friends of Basquiat and their relationship with the artist is explored through Radiant Child.

The story of Basquiat (told for the big screen) is not uncharted territory. Schnabel directed a narrative film about his friend in 1996 (“Basquiat”). However, unlike Davis, he was unable to get the rights to use Basquiat’s paintings from the Basquiat estate, which is overseen by his father. As per Davis during the screening's post Q & A, Jean-Michel gave paintings to his friends as gifts and yet his friends would profit from these gifts by selling them. This exploitation greatly upset the artist and his father. Davis was one of the few to keep her gifts, which automatically instilled trust in Basquiat’s father. It is this act that ultimately rewarded Davis with the consent to use the paintings for her docu. Meanwhile, Schnabel (who may or may not have sold his Basquiat paintings) had to resort to recreating Basquiat’s work for his 1996 film.

The review of "Basquiat" on imdb.com states that the film is "a work of art." The same can be said of “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child.”