On the brink of bankruptcy in the 1970s, New York City’s expansive urban blight proved to be the perfect petri dish for a thriving downtown art scene. Not yet twenty, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a ubiquitous and inspiring presence in a community that included Jim Jarmusch and this film’s director, Sara Driver. They and other veterans of the scene share recollections of Basquiat. Combining rarely seen early drawings, paintings, and writings with archival film and photographs, Boom for Real chronicles the emergence of the charming and prolific artist, musician, and poet for whom the city was both a canvas and a stage.