2. Plot
• Jim is a everyday teenager who has a gift for both basketball
as well as poetry.
• As the story follows Jim and his friends are introduced to the
interesting and destructive world of drug use.
• It doesn't take long for them to become overtaken by heroin.
• They start with robbing elderly women, breaking into
businesses and later Jim turns to prostitution.
3. • Jim ends up getting thrown out on the street by his mom
(Lorraine Bracco) when she realizes that he is out of control.
• Jim's mental and physical abilities take a drastic turn for the
worse.
• Jimis found lying unconscious in the snow where he is rescued
Reggie (Ernie Hudson) who takes him in during his
detoxification.
• Jim's journey through detox is quite long and detailed to show
just how real the process is.
4.
5. • Jim turns down free drugs given to him by his old friend,
Pedro.
• After months in the hospital, he gets out and later does a talk
show about his drug life.
• Although the majority of the film is depressing there is a slight
ray of hope at the end.
11. Critical analysis
• Jim passes from basketball
star to being a strung-out
heroin addict.
• "The Basketball Diaries"
informs us in great detail.
• The idealization sometimes
seems unconvincing.
• Jim's mother, is a one-
dimensional character
12. Contd..
• Jim is in a downward spiral of
pills.
• exciting glimpses into the
underworld of users, pushers,
hookers and pimps.
• Jim's poetry serves as a
narration for part of the film
• DiCaprio does what he can
with the part and is amazing.
• The movie is unconvincing at
the end.
13. • The film's plot caused the 14-year-old Michael
Carneal to shoot members of a prayer group.
14. All in all, the film does an exceptional job.
This film would be a good one to watch with older teenagers to start a
discussion about the realities of drug use.
“The Basketball Diaries” is a realistic film.
15. If I were the director of the movie I would make the last scene more
clear and specific.
The drug abuse shown in the movie is over the top.
