The Basketball Diaries

Basketball Diaries:    

WARNING:  There will be spoilers...if that sort of thing might matter to you.

This movie was released in 1995 and stars Mark Walberg, LorraineBracco, Juliette Lewis, James Madio, and Leo Dicaprio.  

This film is based on the life of Jim Carroll in his teenage years whilst he was facing his demons in his slow downward spiral of chemical dependency. 

One of my readers suggested I should review this movie for my next blog post and I think I shocked him in letting on that I had never seen this movie.  Perhaps it was because of my absolute disinterest in sports.  I don't think I would have even included this movie in the near-future without his suggestion...but being that it is based on a true story, definitely intrigued me.  (I'm a sucker for non-fiction).  

 Whenever I think of this movie I flashback to 1999 after the tragedies of Columbine occurred and Basketball Diaries was one of the movies that the media had placed blame upon for said tragedies.  I personally find it to be ridiculous that anyone could even blame Hollywood for such events.  

Basically, this movie is about:  The life of Jim Carroll and a lot of drugs, high school, drugs, basketball, more drugs, and love…all while living in New York.

((SPOILERS LIKE A MOFO ---DOWN BELOW – DUH!!))

I love that the film opens with a tourettes lady attempting to pray, which wakes up our lead character, Jim Carroll (Leo).  Cut to:  Jim in his Catholic School causing the shocked and disgusted looks of his classmates as Jim takes a beating in front of the class by Father McNulty with a large wooden paddle.  >>>Right of the bat we realize that Carroll is a bit of a trouble-maker or perhaps just a troubled teen?<<<

Cut to: A basketball game, the boys eating burgers afterwards and then confronted by the opposing team for ripping them off. 

(Apparently it is customary that Jim and his friends go through the lockers of the opposing team and steal money and valuables.)  Jim and his friends beat the snot out of the opposing team and run off.

I love that the movie is laced with Jim’s ingenious poetry and quotes.     “…time sure flies when you’re young and jerking off.”

Apparently in New York, one must jump into the Harlem River to prove one is not a “punk.”  That is just what Jim, Pedro, Neutron, and Mickey conquer next in the film.  As the viewer one gets a sense of a “normal” boyhood and the closeness the four friends share; Although apparently there was a fifth to their pack, Bobby, who shortly after this scene, passes away from Leukemia.

The drug use gets worse and the film continues …

Then the infamous dream sequence scene that was shown repeatedly on news shows during the time of Columbine in 1999:  Jim walks into his school and starts shooting students while yelling obscenities and his friends laughing.  Jim then wakes up as Father McNulty yells “wake up, Jim, it’s later than you think!”  Jim exits to the locker room with Pedro and Mickey.  

  

The boys are sorting out a bag of pills and trying to figure out which ones are the uppers.  Neutron walks in and tells them to put that shit away before Coach Swifty walks in.  After Neutron is alone with Jim, he asks Jim what’s going on with him since it appears that all he cares about is getting high.   

Jim tells him that he doesn’t need to hear this from him.  So Neutron changes his tone to sarcasm and tells Jim, “everything’s cool, you look great, I’ll see you in the NBA” and walks out.   

More basketball follows as Jim looks absolutely smashed as he plays.

(((Jim has now raised suspicion and concern with his mother, school faculty, and now his friends that don’t use on a daily basis.  As per Jim’s diary entry, he is even aware that his use has become more frequent, yet he shows no intention of doing anything about the problem because he sees no problem.  Why?  Because Jim doesn’t have enough pain to change and no real consequence.  This would suggest the Pre-contemplation stage of change, as Jim most likely has no intention of changing the behavior in the foreseeable future, under-aware of the problem, and was resistant when Reggie later tries to help Jim alter his behaviors.)))

The basketball game quickly becomes a mess as Jim and Mickey are both drugged out.  Father McNulty walks into the Gym during the game with two police officers.  We then see them in the locker room as the police are searching their lockers for drugs but come up empty-handed.  

(Jim’s drug-use is now resulting in consequences!)

Consequence No. 1:  Father McNulty gets angry and suspends Jim and Mickey for a week.  Coach Swifty chips in, “and you’ll never play basketball here again, that you can count on!”  Jim informs Swifty that he quits the team and the school and this whole “faggot-ass scene.”

Mickey seems more concerned with the fact that they just lost $40 worth of pharmaceuticals while Jim is concerned that they just got kicked out of school.  (((BUT technically they didn’t get “kicked out” he told them he quits!  Fucking idiots!)))

Consequence no. 2:  Jim gets kicked out of his house when his mother confronts him about selling pills in the school yard, which Jim quickly denies.  Jim’s mom sarcastically asks if it’s a whole conspiracy against him then shows him a bag of pills that she found in his room, “what are you gonna tell me, they’re vitamins?”  Jim rebuts with “fuck you, Ma!”  Mom throws Jim’s trophy down to him from an open window and tells him that she can’t watch him kill himself.  Jim picks up the trophy, lights a cigarette then throws the trophy away.

>>>This seems like an accurate metaphor for Jim throwing away all of his accomplishments, hard work, and dreams while his mother is just heartbroken and doesn’t know what else to do at this point.  Consequences are now arriving and Jim continues his drug use.  Why?  Most likely because he has no positive support and no glimmer of hope and has no clue what recovery even is at this point.  He needs to keep from being sick so without school and relationships (his mother) he can pursue his drug use full-time.<<<

 

Now pursuing DRUGS as a full-time job; Jim, Pedro, and Mickey are turning to crime in order to get money for their drugs.  They steal a car for Mickey’s brother but that doesn’t end well for the boys. 

Jim, Pedro, and Mickey break into a restaurant to steal anything of value.  Pedro ends up getting caught and hauled away.  Later, Jim and Mickey are sitting in a bar and see Neutron on TV playing for the all-American high school game.  Jim watches as Neutron is then interviewed at the end and discussing his possible college scholarships.

((Almost as if Jim is realizing what he could have had if he would have stayed on the straight and narrow.))

And a little later, Jim wakes up at Reggie’s house (dude he was playing ball with early on in the movie, ErnieHudson).  Jim looks like he isn’t feeling well as he is starting to withdrawal.  Jim announces that he needs to leave and puts on his jacket and searches through the pockets and angrily asks Reggie, “Where is it?”  Reggie pulls out a baggie and Jim tells him to give it back and threatens Reggie.  Reggie kicks Jim’s ass.  Jim asks why he is doing this.  Reggie replies, “Because a long time ago someone helped me and I always pay what I owe.”

Reggie stands by while Jim sweats it out miserably.  A couple days later Jim seems to be doing a little better.  Until Reggie goes to work and Jim runs out looking for a “taste.”  Jim has no money and cannot find any friends so he results in prostitution.  Jim finds Mickey and tries to cop and they get ripped off and chase the dealer into a building and onto a roof.  Mickey pushes the dealer off the roof by accident.  Jim goes to his mother’s house but she doesn’t let him in or give him any money.  Jim’s mother calls the police and he is taken away.

There is a happy ending though….as we find that after 6 months in Riker’s Island was the “rock bottom” that Jim needed in order to find his recovery.

Would I recommend this title to future clients?

I definitely would.  Especially because of the fact that this film is pretty realistic and could potentially be applied to most situations as it depicts a realistic story in which chemical dependency slowly unravels and destroys lives.

Did this film depict chemical dependency in a real and honest way?  Why/Why Not?  

Real and honest? Yes, Very much so.  Perhaps this was partly because of the depiction from the book and I’m sure having a “drug-specialist” on set was helpful in doing so as well. 

Examples:

 

1.  towards the end of the movie when neighborhood friend, Reggie (played by Ernie Hudson), brings Jim to his apartment in an attempt to rehabilitate Jim.  The temper tantrums and scheming are all very realistic on Jim’s part.  Reggie then leaves Jim alone due to his having to go to work and Jim takes it upon himself to scour the apartment for any sort of valuables that Jim can sell to get a fix.

2.        Jim Narrates, “did I ever tell you about the first time I did heroin?” as the camera goes into flashback mode and shows the old, run-down innards of some sort of building with concrete walls and rubble, dust, and rocks everywhere.  Jim goes on to explain, “I was just going to sniff a bag, but a guy says ‘if you’re gonna sniff, you might as well pop it, and if you’re gonna pop it, might as well mainline.’ I was scared of needles but I gave in.”  Then we see Jim running through a field of chest-high pink and red flowers in the sunlight.   

He goes on to describe the feeling of heroin:

“It was like a heat wave through my body, any ache or pain or sadness or guilty feeling was completely flushed out.”

3.        Jim is in his bed writing in his journal describing his drug use:  “first it’s a Saturday night thing and you feel cool like you’re a gangster or a rock star.  It’s just something to kill the boredom, you know?  They call it a chippie, a small habit.  It feels so good, you start doing it on Tuesdays then Thursdays.  Then it’s got you.  Every wise-ass punk on the block says it won’t happen to them, but it does.”

4.        Jim describes heroin withdrawal:          

  “Your nose is running, your stomach cramps, your legs feel like they played six straight games on top of each other, and the voice is always there in the back of your head…’Just one more time then we’ll stop!’”  Jim writes in his poetry book.  Followed by more basketball..yay.  Then the creepy basketball coach coming onto Jim – offering him money as he makes sexual advances.

>>>This is a pretty accurate description of the beginning symptoms of withdrawal.<<<

5.        After Jim gets kicked out and expelled/quit school, the 3 of them (Jim, Mickey, and Pedro) are in a shooting gallery shooting dope and bullshitting.  Then Jim starts bullshitting with some older dope fiend (who is played by the real Jim Carroll).  As Jim’s mother is praying and crying.   Diane (Juliette Lewis) is then scrounging around and asking if anyone is holding; she picks Jim’s head up and tells him she wants some of what he’s got.

>>>This is so very accurate.  Us Dope fiends when we are looking for the beast, tend to look at others and find the most fucked up looking person (or people) just to ask them where they got theirs from.<<<

Is this movie more about Recovery or drugs/addiction?

This movie undoubtedly depicts the hardships of addiction.  There is however a glimpse of Mr. Carroll’s recovery at the end after a six month stint at Riker’s Island for assault, robbery, resisting arrest, and possession of narcotics.  Mr. Carroll informs viewers through his narration that he “sweated out a horrible cure and stayed clean the whole stretch” regardless of the fact it was “easier to get good junk in here than it is on the street.”  Apparently Carroll kept busy with reading his journals and writing.

Is this movie uplifting or just sad?

It was truly just fucking SAD for the most part.  In looking at this movie in an abstract way you can definitely see the slow downward spiral of chemical dependency and what it can do to anyone’s life.  Replace basketball with any hobby as this movie shows the decline in care and participation in the game.  Jim being expelled could simply translate into just that or someone losing their job.  While Jim’s being kicked out of his house can of course translate over to the decay of close relationships.

Fortunately in the end Jim turned it all around.  As most of us are aware, addiction leads to JAILS, INSTITUTIONS, or DEATH.  Jim’s lead him to jail (prison, Riker’s Island) where Jim made the choice not to keep going down the path he was headed.  As a gifted writer, Jim ended up turning his negatives into positives.  With the right perspective this movie could give hope to some individuals that could use it.  It’s amazing how some can get lost in the purgatory of chemical dependency and recovery but with the right mentor/sponsor, and/or hearing just one person’s story, making a connection…it really can make a world of difference for someone.

Best and worst moments?

The prostitution scene was rather hard to watch as this was very real to me.  Most of us in our addiction hit an all-time low (whatever it may be) and especially empathizing with the character here because he was sober at the time after a couple of days of being drug-free.  One’s emotions and senses are out of control at this point (smells are stronger, skin is more sensitive, and emotions are just uncontrollable.)  So to go through something that one may have even said they would “never” do…once you go through all of your “nevers” it’s hard to see yourself as “human” …. until you find recovery and learn to forgive yourself.

QUOTES:

“Know this: There’s different types of users of junk.  You got your rich dilettante square-ass who dabbles now and then and always has enough money to run off to the Riviera if he feels he’s fucking around to the danger point.  Street Junkies hate these pricks, but they’re always suckers, and their money makes them tolerable.

Then you got your upper-middle-class Westchester preppies, same as the others basically.  What they’re good for is opening their Mommy and Daddy’s eyes to the social virus and putting pressure on the government to do something about it.  Then there’s us street kids. Start fucking around very young, 13 or so…We think we all got it under control and won’t get strung out.  This rarely works.  I’m living proof.  But in the end you just to see the junk as another 9-to-5 gig. The hours just a bit more inclined to shadows.”

--Jim Carroll

And at the end of the movie we learn that Mr. Carroll completed what would later be known as “The Basketball Diaries” by the age of 17.  By age 22, he had published three renowned volumes of poetry and later recorded four albums.

Mr. Carroll, the acclaimed poet, musician, novelist, and performer, resided in New York and continued to write until the fatal heart attack that took his life on September 11, 2009.

Did I miss anything?  Leave anything out?  What did some of these scenes do for some of you out there??  Please, don’t be shy…comment!!!!

Thanks for reading!  Please comment and subscribe! 

Next Movie I will be reviewing:   Factory Girl, 2006.