Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010) by Tamra Davis is an example of the power of careful editing to create an absorbing narrative out of period footage and talking heads interviews. Repetition and distracting subplots are stripped away in the service of the biography of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat's rapid ascension (and sad end) in the 1980s. Indeed, Tamra Davis renders New York City in the eighties as one of the primary characters in the story.
