Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
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  1. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Sebastian Smee
    75
    Some of the most honest and tender observations come from Basquiat's girlfriend at the time, Suzanne Mallouk.
  2. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Ray Greene
    70
    Using clips from home movies, newsreels and public access TV, Davis does a heroic job of bringing the edgy and diffuse mixed-media New York art scene of the '80s back to life.
  3. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Fred Camper
    70
    In the interview, a charmingly self-effacing Basquiat displays a winning smile; perhaps no one could explain what drove him, or his 1988 death from a heroin overdose at 27, but we do learn of his alienation from his family.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    90
    A remarkably rich documentary possessing depth, range, insight and compassion.
  5. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    60
    It doesn't dip much below the surface, but Tamra Davis' biography of her friend Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died in 1988, offers an informative introduction to one of contemporary art's most complex figures.
  6. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    Talking heads include friends, fellow artists, art dealers and former girlfriends. One contributor is Julian Schnabel, the painter and filmmaker who directed the 1996 biopic "Basquiat."
  7. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    88
    Davis does the most thorough job of capturing Basquiat, man, artist, and life force.
  8. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    83
    This is the first full-length movie about his painting and his being that gets anywhere near close to comprehending both.
  9. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Baker
    50
    People who have seen fellow painter Julian Schnabel's "Basquiat" - with its star-making portrayal by Jeffrey Wright - may reasonably trust its truth as a tribute over Davis' ostensibly more factual exercise.
  10. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    83
    The artist's arresting images speak for themselves, even though now only the bystanders are left to tell his story.
  11. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    75
    I doubt that Jean-Michel Basquiat would have endorsed the subtitle. Indeed, The Radiant Child seems to inflate the very cliché that the rest of this film is keen to refute.
  12. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: John DeFore
    80
    A thoroughly engaging film about an inimitable New York painter.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    80
    It places Basquiat's art in a cultural context with an enthusiasm and zest that make the many pictures shown come blazingly alive.
  14. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    80
    The man himself stares into Davis's lens, both confident and scared; for these moments alone, the movie is key.
  15. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Melissa Anderson
    70
    Her (Davis) homage--tender, never hagiographic--also contains some biting analysis of the racism, both overt and insidious, that the artist was up against.

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