It's set in 1960s Manhattan and is a coming-of-age story of a teenage boy's descent into drug addiction. It seems to have a fairly distant relationship to Carroll's own story.
Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) is part of a small group of teenage guys at a Catholic high school. His best friend, Bobby (Michael Imperioli), has terminal leukemia. Other friends include Mickey (Mark Wahlberg), Pedro (James Madio), and Neutron (Patrick McGaw). His single mother (Lorraine Bracco) struggles to hold things together. The basketball coach (Bruno Kirby) is an in-the-closet gay man who pursues Jim. Jim constantly records his thoughts and unfolding events in booklets, often in poetic language.
The guys get into increasing trouble with small thefts and teenage shenanigans until they begin to get hooked on pills. After accidentally taking downers instead of uppers, Jim, Mickey, and Pedro get thrown out of school. Neutron resists the pill culture and goes on to become a high school All-American basketball player. The three guys then begin to use heroin and become increasingly addicted.
The film follows their descent into legal trouble, efforts by acquaintances to help them, and a very short "explanation" at the end of how Jim escapes addiction and begins to share his poetry publicly.
The film is interesting mostly as one of Leonardo DiCaprio's earlier films. In my view, he actually does a good job, but the screenplay and direction are quite wanting. There are quick cuts from scene to scene, and outside of DiCaprio's character, the rest are quite limited.
This movie is quite a downer because of its nature and the quick "positive" ending. And in my view, it doesn't do as good a job of portraying descent into addiction as a film like "Panic in Needle Park."
Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) is part of a small group of teenage guys at a Catholic high school. His best friend, Bobby (Michael Imperioli), has terminal leukemia. Other friends include Mickey (Mark Wahlberg), Pedro (James Madio), and Neutron (Patrick McGaw). His single mother (Lorraine Bracco) struggles to hold things together. The basketball coach (Bruno Kirby) is an in-the-closet gay man who pursues Jim. Jim constantly records his thoughts and unfolding events in booklets, often in poetic language.
The guys get into increasing trouble with small thefts and teenage shenanigans until they begin to get hooked on pills. After accidentally taking downers instead of uppers, Jim, Mickey, and Pedro get thrown out of school. Neutron resists the pill culture and goes on to become a high school All-American basketball player. The three guys then begin to use heroin and become increasingly addicted.
The film follows their descent into legal trouble, efforts by acquaintances to help them, and a very short "explanation" at the end of how Jim escapes addiction and begins to share his poetry publicly.
The film is interesting mostly as one of Leonardo DiCaprio's earlier films. In my view, he actually does a good job, but the screenplay and direction are quite wanting. There are quick cuts from scene to scene, and outside of DiCaprio's character, the rest are quite limited.
This movie is quite a downer because of its nature and the quick "positive" ending. And in my view, it doesn't do as good a job of portraying descent into addiction as a film like "Panic in Needle Park."