Pollock (film)
From AwardAnnals
| Film: | Pollock |
|---|---|
| Director: | Ed Harris |
| Genres: | |
| Distributor: | Sony Pictures |
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Reviews
Amazon.com
The long road to Pollock began when actor Ed Harris received a biography of Jackson Pollock from his father, who noticed that his son bore an uncanny resemblance to the artist. Harris’s fascination with Pollock matched his physical similarity; the actor chose to direct and star in this impressive film biography. And his devotion assured a work of singular integrity, honoring the artist’s achievement in abstract expressionism while acknowledging that Pollock was a tormented, manic-depressive alcoholic whose death at 44 (in a possibly suicidal car crash) also claimed the life of an innocent woman. The film also suggests that Pollock’s success was largely attributable to the devotion of his wife, artist Lee Krasner, played with matching ferocity by Marcia Gay Harden in an Oscar®-winning performance.
In many respects a traditional biopic, Pollock begins in 1941 when Pollock meets Krasner, who encourages him and attracts the attention of supportive critic Clement Greenberg (Jeffrey Tambor) and benefactor Peggy Guggenheim (Amy Madigan). As Pollock rises from obscurity to international acclaim, Harris brings careful balance to his portrayal of a driven creator who found peace during those brief, sober periods when art brought release from his tenacious inner demons. The film offers sympathy without sentiment, appreciation without misguided hagiography. As an acting showcase it’s utterly captivating. As a compassionate but unflinching exploration of Jackson Pollock’s intimate world, there’s no doubt that Harris captured the essence of a man whose life was as torturous as his art was redeeming. —Jeff Shannon
Barnes and Noble
Really big canvases and even bigger alcohol binges—that’s the career of American painter Jackson Pollock in a nutshell. This biographical film, directed by and starring actor Ed Harris (whose performance earned an Academy Award nod) places these facets of the abstract expressionist’s life on extravagant display. Harris impresses in his debut behind the camera, chronicling Pollock’s early days as a starving artist in New York’s Greenwich Village, his dazzling ascent to the heights of art world stardom, his ongoing struggles with alcoholism and depression, and finally his death in a car accident in 1956. Harris studied actual footage of Pollack at work on his famous “drip” paintings, and the scenes in which the artist creates his legendary canvases are the movie’s most visually compelling. At the center of the story is Pollock’s stormy relationship with his strong-willed wife, the painter Lee Krasner, who, despite her own talent as an artist, devoted her energies to her husband’s career rather than her own. Marcia Gay Harden’s rock-solid performance as Krasner earned her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, but ultimately Pollock is Harris’s show. He bears a striking resemblance to the real Pollock, and his virile physical presence dominates the screen, conveying stiff suffering early in Pollock’s career, wiry masculinity at the height of his success, and, finally, paunchy inebriation during the painter’s last days. The result is a wrenching portrait of a tormented genius whose quest for greatness came at a heavy price. Gregory Baird
Related works
Pollock: Original Soundtrack
Internationally acclaimed painter Jackson Pollock’s work was inspired by the energy of the moment and the subliminal patterns of human thought. So too has film scorer Jeff Beal sought to integrate the many moods of the creative life in a score that combines the feeling of pastoral retreat (where Pollock did his work) with the manic-obsessive moments of divine inspiration. No better is this exemplified than in “Stroke of Genius” where a calm, lulling beginning morphs into a powerful finale. For the most part, however, this is a subdued collection. In an…
Jackson Pollock: An American Saga
Based on family letters and documents, lengthy interviews with his widow, Lee Krasner, as well as his psychologists and psychoanalysts, this book explodes the myths surrounding his death in 1956.
