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Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, Mark Wahlberg, Bruno Kirby, Juliette Lewis
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Basketball Diaries |
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The Basketball Diaries is a story of the harsh realities of drug addiction and the ease in which occasional drug use turns into a daily must. The main character, Jimmy Carroll (DiCaprio) was a promising basketball player and through his constant diary writings he showed us he was an deep thinker. At first drugs were just for sex and parties but soon it was affecting his basketball and home life. Jimmy and his mates soon turned to serious crime and quickly became desperate junkies. Throughout this Jimmy keeps writing in his diary and this gives us a thorough view of his thoughts. Eventually Jimmy gets sent to jail and this helps him clean up and start afresh, but it is easy to tell that Jimmy is one of the lucky few who make it out of the vicious drug cycle.
--Jarrad Heal, Resident Scholar
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This 1995 film portrays the highly autobiographical novel by Jim Carroll about his free fall from great promise as a high school basketball player into the harrowing world of drug addiction. Partly to escape their rotten surroundings (a best friend dying of leukemia, a perverted and molesting coach), the boys turn to stealing, robbery, and prostituting themselves in order to get heroin. DiCaprio does a solid acting job as Carroll, and though the story is pretty graphic, it remains a fairly pedestrian effort with a truncated and unconvincing conclusion. Juliette Lewis disgraces herself in a small role as a reformed drug addict and prostitute.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Basketball Diaries |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- committing crimes
- fighting with parents
Crime & Scandal
Yes
Story of
- life in drug culture
Age group
- trouble in high school
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- blonde
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) very skinny
Unclothed?
- Chest and Buttocks
Events of movie makes character more...
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- druggie/wino disease
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) muscular
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
- dirty, grimy (like New York)
- dangerous
Misc setting
- prison
- school
- sports arena
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
- explicit references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- frustrated
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- actual description of sex
- seeing nude male butt
Any profanity?
- A lot of foul language
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Modern rock/pop
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Jarrad Heal
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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