The Basketball Diaries

Yes, I was sadly quite aware of the passing of Jim Carroll this week past. Having met him a couple of times back in the '80s I felt a look at the filmed version of his most famous work was a more fitting tribute than a mere little obit related blurb. Scott Kalvert does a fair enough job catching some of the grit to be found in Carroll's bildungsroman and it is interesting to see Leonardo DiCaprio develop some of the traits he would use as Rimbaud in TOTAL ECLIPSE but overall I never thought of this as a great film. A few future SOPRANOS regualrs appear here, Lorraine Bracco, Vincent Pastore and the great Michael Imperioli who is making his directorial debut with THE HUNGRY GHOSTS and will also soon be seen in THE LOVELY BONES. Look for Brittany Daniel in her feature debut and Carroll himself has an interesting cameo but I won`t ruin it for those of you who`ve read the book but not yet seen the film. Worth a look for the edgier teen set or those who survived the era but alas THE BASKETBALL DIARIES does not have mass interest appeal.