I guess it’s safe to say that you never know when a movie is going to roll across the cable guide that unexpectedly catches your eye. I had heard mention of “The Basketball Diaries” in passing (released in 1995? Damn, I’m old), and the culture of the New York hoops playgrounds has always somewhat fascinated me—or at least since I got to know “Da Jules of Harlem on His Way to Stardom” a little bit at State.
So when I stumbled across “The Basketball Diaries,” featuring a 20-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio, I figured I’d give it a shot. Initially, it had the gritty feel of a Martin Scorsese flick, but since it was directed by Scott Kalvert, it was obviously lacking in Scorses’s directorial techniques and gifts—though there are some memorable, slow-motion scenes, highlighted by the gang jumping off the cliffs. Of course, its authentic vibe is informed by the fact that it’s based on a true story, captured by noted author and musician (his music was part of the film’s soundtrack) Jim Carroll in his novel of the same name. The tagline was “the true story of the death of innocence and the birth of an artist,” and certainly captures the flick in a nutshell.
DiCaprio plays Jim, the main character who tries to blend three worlds: basketball, thuggery and poetry. While he’s hard to accept as a street tough, his gang is lent some credence with the presence of a ‘roided-up Marky Mark (as Mickey … Mickey Mark?), plus the mousy little Pedro (James Medio) and the more straight-arrow Neutron (Patrick McGaw). The insertion of a sickly, wheelchair-bound Michael Imperioli (Chrissy from "The Sopranos") and his subsequent death felt pretty forced, however. Bruno Kirby, unforgettable forever from his role in “City Slickers”, makes an appearance as the gang’s Catholic-school basketball coach, Swifty. However, we see very early on that Kirby is a rather disturbed individual who not so subtly has a “thing” for Jim.
Anyway, the plot unveils a downward spiral as Jim and his crew discover cocaine and various other drugs, and even as the spotlight gets turned on Jim as the city’s premier prep basketball player, his slide into the gutter gets worse and worse. Even meeting a smoking-hot twin (played by a whatever-happened-to-her, insanely hot Brittany Daniel) doesn’t stop Jim from following Mickey and Pedro into the abyss, even as Neutron splits from the crew and tries to convince Jim to do the same, to not throw away his talents.
When Jim and Mickey get tossed off the team for playing games stoned (even though they never find drugs in their lockers because Pedro removed them in time; also, the unintentional comedy level of these guys playing basketball while high is through the roof), the lone thing holding them somewhat in check is finally lost. Vandalism turns into true crime as the trio delves into heroin, starts living on the streets, and falls deeper and deeper into the New York underworld. After he’s thrown out of his house by his besieged mother (Lorraine Bracco), Jim reaches rock bottom. He’s rescued by Reggie (Ernie Hudson of “Ghostbusters”) and goes through horrific withdrawals, but just when it looks as if he’s turned it around, he flakes out, robs Reggie and returns to the streets. The shell of his life is crystallized when the lovable hooker that his gang used to torment, played by Juliette Lewis, mocks him on the streets as even worse than her.
After Mickey and Pedro are arrested, Jim has nowhere else to turn. He tries to return home, but his terrified mother calls the cops, and Jim is sent to jail. While in the slammer, he rediscovers his writings, and “The Basketball Diaries” are truly formed. Following his release, Jim delves into spoken word poetry with Reggie’s help, and the movie leaves off at the point where Jim appears to have it all together (I guess the book deal wasn’t deemed worthy of airing in the flick).
DiCaprio certainly has a tendency to be a bit of an over-actor, but going over the top was called for in this one, especially during the withdrawal scenes. He did a tremendous job in this role, considering how young he was at the time. It was difficult to buy him as a child of Harlem early in the film, but after you see how evil lurks around every corner and in every aspect of these kids’ lives, you get lost in the city as a gritty, dangerous character. Though the gang indeed pursues trouble, they certainly don’t have to look very far, and as you anticipate the impending descent into hell that the crew is certainly headed for, you can’t help but feel some pity.
“The Basketball Diaries” was well worth finally checking out, especially for a writer always interested in the power of prose in helping turmoil-beset and angsty people escape from their own lives and find something pretty … even in the darkest corners.
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