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Reviews
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
you shouldn't miss this
I first watched The Basketball Diaries at 13 years of age. I am Australian and it is rated R but I found it totally compelling.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jim, a young high school student who falls into the world of drugs. Jim Carroll's autobiography of the same name was the idea of this film.
It follows him through the stages of drug use, the things drugs force him into and the heartbreaking downward fall of a talented poet and basketball player.
As a young female watching this, I have to say many of the scenes disgusted me - the stripper scene, the pornography and masturbation innuendos. Just not something a thirteen year old girl really wants to know about boys! But this movie holds an important message; that drugs can ruin a young person's life.
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
A story about love and belonging
My Own Private Idaho is definitely underrated, those who have seen it either love it or do not want to see it again.
River Phoenix plays Mike, a gay Narcoleptic hustler trying to find his mother and a place to belong. Keanu Reeves plays Scott, a rich boy just wasting his time hustling until he qualifies for his family's inheritance. These two are friends, looking for the same sort of thing, love and to belong.
I first stumbled across the film at 18, it was on T.V. and my dad quickly turned the station over from the start of the film. Curious, I rented the movie and although I do not usually watch films about drug-use and hustling and homosexuality, I like dark dramas so I instantly loved the film in all its glory.
I have been a fan of River for two years now, I absolutely adore him, this is one of his best films.
Keanu, I think, is a little less of an actor, though I thought he did terrific as Scott.
You don't have to be gay or interested in drugs or hustling, anyone can relate to wanting to find love and to belong somewhere in the world. This film belongs with the best!
This Boy's Life (1993)
My favourite film
This Boy's Life has been my favourite film since I was 13 years old. I saw it because of 18 year old DiCaprio and by the time the film was over I was completely obsessed in not only him, but the story as well.
This Boy's Life is set in the 1950's and based on Tobias Wolff's 1989 autobiography. Divorced mother Ellen Barkin believes she has found the solution to her capricious wanderings. Mechanic Robert De Niro is charming, if unsophisticated. His household of children from a previous marriage and his unpretentious consistency offer unprecedented security. And just maybe he'll put new order into her unruly son Leonardo DiCaprio's life.
The movie is just as good as the book, although in the movie Leonardo (Tobias/Jack) is subjected to physical and mental abuse from DeNiro (Dwight), whereas Tobias states in his autobiography nothing like that, except telling his brother that Dwight hit him so that he could visit his brother and the violence Dwight expressed on his mother in the end.
I related highly to the film. And I think many teenagers in less than desperate ways will also find it relates to them. The hardships of finding yourself/who you are in the big world, dealing with family and friends, even the anxiousness of trying to get into University and being turned down a few times. Making numerous mistakes until you finally get it right. This is what life is for teenagers today; this is our voice.