Julian Schnabel’s tribute to his friend and fellow painter Jean-Michel Basquiat is less a conventional biopic than an impressionistic, sensory immersion into the much-mythologized downtown-Manhattan art world of the 1980s. Jeffrey Wright, in his first lead film role, stars as the visionary artist whose rise from graffiti tagger to art star forces him to confront the glare of sudden fame, along with racism, his own struggles with addiction, and the difficulties of being self-determining and free in America. Bolstered by an ensemble cast that includes a sublime performance by David Bowie channeling Andy Warhol, Schnabel’s directorial debut—presented here in the filmmaker’s own luminous black-and-white remastering—is a profoundly expressive elegy for a radiant life cut short.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New 4K digital restoration of the 2024 black-and-white version of the film, supervised and approved by director Julian Schnabel, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack

Audio commentary featuring Schnabel and writer and curator Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan

New 4K digital restoration of the 1996 theatrical version

New interview with actor Jeffrey Wright

Interview from 1996 with Schnabel and actor David Bowie

Trailer

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

PLUS: An essay by film scholar Roger Durling