“The Basketball Diaries” is a complex production, an extremely dynamic adventure, an absolutely story-

chilling drama packed with moments of suspense and exceptional scenes who present the real life
without filters. The impressive film is incredibly directed by Scott Kalvert and brilliantly and wonderfully
acted by Leonardo Di Caprio as Jim Carroll , Mark Wahlberg playing the role of Mickey, James Madio as
Pedro, Ernie Hudson playing the role of Reggie, Lorraine Bracco as Jim`s Mother. The compelling and
realistic script written by Bryan Goluboff is based on real events as well as part of the thought-provoking
novel with the same name, “The Basketball Diaries ” by Jim Carroll.

The film can be considered a great triumph of story-telling because from the very first shot to the last
scene, it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is a film about the addiction to drugs and the influence of
friendships. Jim Carroll is a drug-addicted high-school basketball player who always gets in trouble with
his friends Pedro, Mickey and Neutron. Despite having a staggering talent for writing, he has a terrible
disgust for school. After his best friend bobby dies of leukemia, Jim stars taking heroin. At an important
high school basketball game, they mess up the pills and Jim, Mickey and Pedro are expelled. From this
moment on, the only purpose of the three young men is to procure these awful substances by any
means.

“The Basketball Diaries” is an extremely heart-breaking film, absolutely stunning and terrifying to look at
and listen to, in other words, it is a brutally gorgeous film. It absorbs you from the very beginning with
its totally convincing and powerful characters, revealing an absolutely breath-taking story. The movie is
the best money can buy, a bold triumph of drama films, revealing the brutal cruelty of this world. The
plot is barely predictable and gives you shivers down your spine due to scenes packed with brutally
dramatic moments, especially when Jim is in withdrawal and asks his mother to give him some money.
In this painful scene, Leonardo Di Caprio does a fantastic job, performing his role extremely natural with
a frighteningly ease. Without doubt, “The Basketball Diaries” would not impress the way it does without
the stunning duet Leonardo Di Caprio- Mark Wahlberg, two friends in real life and also in the film as Jim
and Mickey.

What males the movie so fascinating in my opinion is that it provides an unseen insight into the awful
life of the homeless people and the excruciating pain a drug addict goes through. What I licked the most
is that the director keeps the scenes unblurred, giving the brutal reality untouched. The only thing I am
not a fan of is the end because it is unclear and not even the author Jim Carroll does not like it “If they
just ended with him staring out the window I think it would`ve worked” and some film critics have the
same opinion about the end “At the end… We can’t tell if this is supposed to be genuine testimony or a
performance ”- Roger Ebert. My favourite scene of the movie is when Jim is euphoric and his mother is
shocked by his terrible appearance. The reason why I`ve chosen it is because both actors are astonishing
, but this is Leonardo Di Caprio`s movie, acting without any artificiality and for the deep remark which
gives food for thought “I was such a good boy, right?”. One particular strength of this movie are the
quotes, but being a 15 rated film just one Is appropriate ”And in the next life, Father, I’m gonna have
the paddle”. The message that the memorable quote wants to get across is that this life is not fair but
we can be sure that the life after death is just pure justice.
All things considered, “The Basketball Diaries” is a astonishingly spectacular film, a movie packed with
moments of suspense, one of the greatest triumph of drama films. As far as I am concerned, what
impressed me the most is how incredibly Leonardo Di Caprio portrays his character and the lessons of
life the movie teaches us: to stay away from drugs and to carefully analyse the group we are part of. I
highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in drama, as it will keep you on the edge of your seat
and if you are a teenager and you only watch a movie this year this should be it, as it is a definite must-
see.