The Basketball Diaries (DVD)

...Introduction... Most sporting films arent that great in terms of plot. That was all changed when Basketball Diaries was released. It's the film that made Leonardo Di Caprio (before Titanic of course). It was released in 1995 and tells the tale of a talented High school basketball player played by Leo who dreams of playing in the National Basketball Association one day and this is his story. ...The Plot... The film centers on Leonardo Di Caprio's character Jim Carroll as his dreams of playing Basketball professionally take a tumble as he spirals into drug addiction. It leads through his later years at High School and gives a real ...  Read the complete review

Jim Carroll is a talented High School Basketball player and reams of getting himself out of his neighbourhood by becoming a basketball star. Every now and then, Jim and a group of friends would get high on sniffing solvents. But this leads them into the world of drugs and we see Jim and his lives collapse as they progress through cocaine, pills and heroin. Thrown out of school and home we see Jim beg, steal and prostitute himself to get the money to fund his addiction. This is the true story of Jim Carroll, a writer, and musician who became a voice for a generation. The film is an adaptation on his book "The Basketball Diaries" and from what I ...  Read the complete review

IF YOUR IDEA OF A GOOD MOVIE DOES NOT INCLUDE LEONARDO DICAPRIO AND HIS BOYISH GOOD LOOKS THEN THIS MOVIE IS FOR YOU. "BUT LEONARDO IS IN THIS MOVIE", I HEAR YOU SAY. AND I SAY "YES BUT ITS LEO LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE". THIS IS THE DRAMATIC STORY OF A YOUNG LAD WHO HAS GOT ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LAW, IS GOING NOWHERE AT SCHOOL AND HAS DEVELOPED A SERIOUS DRUG HABIT. HE UNDERGOES SEXUAL ABUSE BY A TEACHER AT SCHOOL TO SCORE CASH FOR A FIX, HE IS DISOWNED BY HIS SINGLE MOTHER AND AS ALL HOPES ARE LOST IS TAKEN IN AND CLEANED UP BY A NEIGHBOUR. THIS IS A HARD HITTING AND MOVING FILM WHICH ...  Read the complete review

This film is actually based on the book 'The Basketball Diaries' by Jim Carroll. It's his own diary from his early teen years where he was taken into a world of heroin abuse and crime. I've read the book too and the film is a credit to a written masterpiece (considering he was only twelve when he started writing it). Don't let the title deceive you though. It's not about basketball, although it does play a mojor role in Jim's life. It's more of a metephor for those care free days of youth when simple things like basketball are the only 'responsibilities' in your life. Leonardo Dicaprio did this in his pre-fame days. ...  Read the complete review

An incredibly moving and deply disturbing film. The Basketball Diaries follows the life of four high school boys who go off the rails. It contains some scary scenes depicting the boys as they get more and more into drugs in the downward spiral which ends up with heroin. The film is enough to make you stay away from drugs for more than one lifetime because it shows the reality behind the fun of drugs, and the pain and torture which lies behind them. Don't get this film out unless you are in the mood for drugs and violence, it's definitely a tear-jerker! ...  Read the complete review