Graffiti writer turned Soho gallery painter Jean-Michel Basquiat was the art-world version of James Dean (or, in Majewskian terms, Rafal Wojaczek), a talented but doomed artist who lit up his Reagan-era universe before dying too young. “Discovered” by Andy Warhol, the young and rough Basquiat makes a meteoric rise from tagging subways to selling his work in downtown galleries and uptown penthouses, but being poor, black, and reckless in a world of the rich, white, and uptight only underscores his sense of disgust. Written and coproduced by Majewski, and directed by the painter Julian Schnabel, this snapshot of the early 1980s art scene is just as fascinating as a time capsule of the mid-nineties indie film world (it was released in 1996): in addition to the vibrant Jeffrey Wright (who went on to Broken Flowers and Syriana), there are Parker Posey, Courtney Love, Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, and Gary Oldman, with music by John Cale, Tom Waits, and PJ Harvey.