★ 7 / 10
_**Downer biography starts weak, but becomes, um, artistic…
Wuchak
_**Downer biography starts weak, but becomes, um, artistic… and moving**_ Abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris) is a struggling artist in New York…
_**Downer biography starts weak, but becomes, um, artistic… and moving**_
Abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris) is a struggling artist in New York City in the early 40s when he meets his future wife Lee Krasner, a fellow artist (Marcia Gay Harden). They move to the far end of Long Island where he finally catches a break, but alcoholism threatens his life. Jennifer Connelly shows up in the last act.
“Pollock” (2000) is an honest biography covering the final fifteen years of the artist’s life from 1941-1956. It was a long-term passion for director/star Ed Harris to bring to the screen.
The film starts weak with Pollock being portrayed as a troubled artistic weirdo. While I have no doubt that this is true-to-life, the opening act fails to capture the attention of the viewer. What’s worse, there’s an unintentionally amusing scene reminiscent of the Seinfeld episode "The Visa" where Jerry pretends to be morose and disturbed, which unexpectedly turns on George’s Asian girlfriend. This “meh” opening is probably why the film failed at the box office.
Thankfully, the story perks up when the couple moves to a remote area on Long Island. At one point a journalist asks Pollock how he knows when he’s finished with a painting. He insightfully responds, “How do you know when you're finished making love?” This showed that Jackson loved his work and equated creating art to making love. He was a troubled soul, very much so, but painting was his escape, his bliss. It was Pollock’s area of genius and, indeed, his peculiar art is stunning and somehow aesthetically pleasing. I was so moved I wept.
Unfortunately, alcohol was his downfall.
If you don’t mind downer biographies of artists, like “The Doors” (1991) and “Big Sur” (2013), check this one out. There are inspiring moments amidst the melancholy.
The movie runs 2 hours, 2 minutes and was shot in New York City and East Hampton, Long Island. ADDITIONAL CAST: Jeffrey Tambor, Bud Cork, Val Kilmer and John Heard.
GRADE: B
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★ 8 / 10
Jackson Pollock: An illustrated study on how to really paint oneself into a corner
gbrumburgh
As heavy and darkly textured a film as any one of his masterpieces, director and star Ed Harris takes us into the tortured, inebriated world of abstract…
As heavy and darkly textured a film as any one of his masterpieces, director and star Ed Harris takes us into the tortured, inebriated world of abstract painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)and leaves us assured that Pollock is a certifiable candidate for the Hall of Fame "self-destructive genius" award, joining the illustrious, besotted ranks of Ernest Hemingway, Hank Williams, John Barrymore, Helen Morgan, et al. True, when has Hollywood ever bothered to put on cinematic display a gifted artist who wasn't a poster child for Betty Ford? We usually reserve well-adjusted geniuses for quieter, more tasteful retrospectives on cable TV.Harris spares no time in letting us know that Pollock is a crude, mindless, gifted mess veering toward unmitigated disaster, taking everything and everyone down with him as he does. Amazingly, in his brutally brief 44 years, Pollock manages to find, with a man-child brilliance, his life's destiny as a master of artistic expression and interpretation and the accidental inventor of the drip-action technique. Harris painstakingly chronicles the little known details of this wretched genius who somehow learned how to free up his own artistic mind while confine the rest of his world to an absolute hell.The actor/director wisely manages to avoid most of the pitfalls characteristic of these grand bios of agony and angst. In a stark, no-holds-barred performance, he lays the character out like it is -- unredeeming, hopeless, desperate, supremely gifted, yet intriguing. Its a daunting, fully etched performance that, in lesser hands, could have been one long cliche. He doesn't toy with the audience by thinking had the right circumstances come along for Pollock (and they DID come along with wife and caretaker, Lee Krasner) he could have somehow prevailed. Harris is quite believable, losing himself in the painter while showing off his researched skills with a brush. It's a true labor of love and it shows.Marcia Gay Harden's self-sacrificing Krasner breathes life not only into Pollock but the film itself. Harden, in a rich, flashy portrayal, is mesmerizing as one artist compelled to save another, giving interesting dimension to a woman whose reasons are not totally pure and selfless. Amy Madigan (Harris' wife in real life) makes the most of her few scenes as the eccentric museum maven Peggy Guggenheim, while Val Kilmer appears in an odd, thankless cameo. Harris and Harden were both deservedly Oscar-nominated for their work here.Yet, problems do creep into the film. While Harris pours his heart and soul into this show (a ten-year pet project, so they say), Pollock's "before life" is never set up to demonstrate why Pollock became such an inveterate drunk and monster. As such, little sympathy can be mustered, holding viewers at bay. Moreover, a couple of manipulative scenes also seem to be thrown in merely to punctuate the already well-worn theme of Pollock's misery and desolation. Less is more in this case. For the most parts, however, this little film succeeds.Until now, little attention has been paid to the artist Jackson Pollock. Harris rectifies this injustice, as reprehensible as some of it is, with unsparing honesty, dedication and precision.
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★ 8 / 10
Moving and mesmerizing look at the painter Pollock
Quinoa1984
Ed Harris gives it his all and succeeds here, in his (fine) directorial effort. He portrays 40's and 50's painter Jackson Pollock, a man who drank too much…
Ed Harris gives it his all and succeeds here, in his (fine) directorial effort. He portrays 40's and 50's painter Jackson Pollock, a man who drank too much, was often crazy about many things, but was a magnificent painter (depending on what you like). Marcia Gay Harden also stars as Lee Krasner, Pollock's guidance into the benign and all. Both Harris and Harden are exqusite here, earning well deserved Oscar nominations (Harris I think would win if it wasn't for Tom Hanks performance), with not much insight going into the method to Pollock's madness, but just his design, which is good in avoiding chiches. Painting scenes are some of the best scenes of last year. A
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