Pollock (2000) User Reviews (165)

Jackson Pollock: An illustrated study on how to really paint oneself into a corner

[gbrumburgh · 8/10 · 17 February 2001]

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.

Art versus Life...and Life Magazine

[ThurstonHunger · 7/10 · 26 December 2003]

I think it is very hard in general to make a "based on a true story" sort of film, that alone can clamp a pretty heavy anchor to your ankles. Moreso when that true story is one that means a lot to you as Ed Harris has said about Jackson Pollock's biography.

Based upon those precepts, I feel Harris succeeded, however I cannot say this film is an unqualified success. It is sprawling, but unlike Pollock...for cinema circulation, Harris could not stretch his canvas so wide. He gets over two hours here...but I suspect he could have filled six easily.

Based upon early buzz when this came out, including the snippet shown at the Oscars for Marcia Gay Harden, I had trepidation that this would be reduced to a shout and spittle film; that the rage and angst of Pollock and Krasner would be the story. Certainly this is one aspect presented, but not the sole one.

Interestingly to me, it seemed that the more halcyon Pollock's life was, the better his exploration of his art. I went in expecting that alcohol-oiled turmoil would be presented as the key to complicated creation. An artist must suffer and so on.

This shows that while I was familiar with Pollock, I was not that familiar. I could recognize his later chaotic, laced and dripped paintings...but I did not know anything about his personal life.

But in the course of two hours, I did enjoy...

1) Seeing a progression in Pollock's paintings. I had not seen many of his earlier works that had more blocks to them, that were more easily seen as assemblages of images. The way these were filmed, in the act of creation was well done here. Same is true for the latter works.

2) The importance of Pollock's family. I loved seeing his Mother come to the openings. I did not know that two other brothers also painted; Sande alone seems to understand Jackson's talent and torment. Their relationship could have made a film of its own.

3) Jeffrey Tambor's portrayal of Clem, a critic/king-maker of sorts. Us posters here, run the risk of being posers as well. And I think the best of us realize how subjective our comments are, a function of when we watch films, and who we are with, or how we are feeling as much as the films themselves.

4) Following on that notion, to me one thread of "Pollock" is how the circle of critics destroys artists with either persecution or praise. It is not a revelation, that much art is highly personal, both for the purveyor, but painfully so for the artists. Not a revelation, but still worth repeating...

When we see Pollock "drunk" on his ascent, reading from an Italian magazine during a family reunion, that really got to me. Maybe that was more dangerous than alcohol. Even if that critical acceptance is not essential, eating is. Another thread alluded to in this film, how to "work" and to live as an artist.

That scene also drove home the obsessive nature of being an artist, how it is hard at the same time to be a brother, or uncle, husband or perhaps impossible to be a father. Thus that obsession helps to contrast Sande and Jackson, and certainly sets up the power of Marcia Gay Harden's performance. Krasner too is an artist, who has had some success. She retains her name, and her dreams, but fully embraces Pollock, and Pollock's artwork. Her support of him, while aware of her limits, was presented without martyring her. She was not a saint wandering into Pollock's hell.

5) Talking to an artist about his/her obsession is problematic. They are already communicating in their chosen medium, and presumably they are communicating that way as it is easier than using words. I thought the interview with Life magazine in this film, and Pollock's notion of viewing his art as one views a field of flowers helped me. Maybe that was obvious to others, I think that way in music/sound...but in art too often I am hunting for images, for mirrors to our world.

The radio interview that Pollock conducted, halting and awkward could have underscored the travails of talking about art, or it seemed like he was trying to read from a manifesto of sorts (perhaps in real life one exists). Finally, the documentary film is painted as an undoing of Pollock. Fascinating as we ourselves are watching a film about Pollock. It's as if Ed Harris the actor in character could be talking to Ed Harris the film auteur.

The documentary film was to Pollock, what a zoo can be to a wild animal. The habitat corrupts the inhabitant. How Pollock puts on his shoes, when he's done painting, all control is lost...the private process made public, is made impure.

No, that's not the point to this film. If you are looking for a film with one tidy point, go elsewhere. But for an abridged but admirable biopic on Jackson Pollock, with many tangled and tantalizing threads...this is one to rent. And now a book for me to read. Rarely do I watch the deleted scenes and wish they had been in the film, as I did in this case.

There was a great shot early in the film where Pollock is pacing before the mural commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim. From the plot, we know he's worried about looms before him, and we get eerie shots of his shadow projected on the empty canvas to reinforce that. Harris too may have felt this was an ominous undertaking, I hope he pleased himself as he did me.

7/10

well made biopic

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 9 November 2014]

Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris) is famous with a Life magazine cover in 1950. The movie flashes back to 1941. He's a drunk staying in Greenwich Village with his brother and pregnant wife. Artist Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden) shows some interest and becomes his lover/supporter. His brother moves to Connecticut. Jackson breaks down which is why he can't be drafted into the war. Lee takes Jackson home acting more and more like his manager. His work eventually gains the attention of art collector Peggy Guggenheim (Amy Madigan) who gives him an one-man show in 1943. Lee and Jackson decides to move to a country house on Long Island away from the drinking and doing more work. His paintings are still not selling and then the Life article happens. Lee and Jackson have a roller-coaster relationship and then he has an affair with Ruth Kligman (Jennifer Connelly).

Ed Harris directs a mostly straight forward biopic of Jackson Pollock with a few fascinating scenes of painting sessions. His directing style doesn't necessarily project Jackson mental breakdowns but his acting is able to bridge the gap. Ed Harris is not the most imaginative director visually but it is overcome by good actors doing good work. It is a good debut directorial effort.

Dodging the biopic bullet

[Alvy_Singer73 · 15 March 2001]

Films like "Pollock" always leave me at a loss when I have to describe them to others. For one thing, it's long been a labor of love for director / star Ed Harris, which maybe causes me to have more sympathy for the picture than I should -- after all, I'd hate to ream a project that he's spent so much time and energy developing. For another thing, I usually find biopics a bit crippled because, in most cases ("Pollock" included), I already know the plot, and without the plot to get lost in, I'm left to look at little things like, you know, the acting, writing and directing. Lucky for Harris (and my conscience), then, that the acting is uniformly great, the direction is mostly seamless (and downright kinetic at times), and the writing, while not being great in the "Casablanca" sense of the word, serves the story well. "Pollock" dodges all the pitfalls that often turn biopics into boring history lessons.

The film picks up with Jackson Pollock the Unsuccessful Drunk (Harris), dabbling in surrealist painting and proclaiming Picasso to be a fraud. There's enough promise in his work, though, for him to gain a girlfriend, Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden); a benefactor, Peggy Guggenheim (Amy Madigan); and a professional critic, Clement Greenberg (Jeffrey Tambor), who champions his work in print. From there we watch Pollock take the express train to art world superstardom, becoming one of the world's foremost abstract painters.

The fly in the ointment, though, is Pollock's notorious temper, aided and abetted by his equally notorious alcoholism. Life in New York City is doing his personal life no favors, so he and Krasner move to the countryside, and it's here that he stumbles upon his "drip method" of painting, granting him another wave of fame and recognition. It is this sequence, in which Pollock makes his pivotal discovery, where Harris's talent as a director comes to the fore. Although we're aware that we're watching an actor perform a discovery that was made by someone else more than fifty years ago, it's an exciting, dynamic moment as Harris dances around his canvas, flicking paint from his brush in a blur of motion. It doesn't come off as staged or phony, but as a moment of genuine discovery, and for those moments we might as well actually be watching Jackson Pollock revolutionize the art world.

From there, though, ego, alcohol, and the mechanics of change all prove to be Pollock's undoing, leading, of course, to his untimely demise. Through it all, Harris seethes with a feral intensity, giving a performance that should rightfully win him an Oscar (and check out the dramatic weight gain at the end. Tom who?). Harden, his co-nominee, is also excellent (although she's stuck uttering lines like, "You've done it, Pollock. You've cracked it wide open."). In lesser hands, Krasner could be just another version of the screeching, wailing, put-upon wife, but Harden bolsters the anguish with a fine layer of anger; the torment of a woman who loves the person causing her misery, but who is unwilling to let go of the principles which led her to enter and maintain the relationship on her own terms.

"Pollock" ultimately succeeds because we know how it will end, we clearly see how unpleasant and deluded the artist had become, and still we can't look away. Harris's labor of love serves as an auspicious debut for someone who, at this stage, seems just as skilled behind the camera as he is in front of it.

Great Artist, Lousy Person

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 13 November 2005]

Jackson Pollock was not a likable person. He was an alcoholic, an adulterer, an egotist and simply a plain jerk. He also was a pioneer in the field of modern art, so he became famous and hence, even had this movie about his life.

Ed Harris, a jerk himself, was a good choice for the role. Harris, who looks like Pollock, did a fine job of portraying this "tormented" soul, a word critics love to use for famous artists (see Van Gogh).

This was an interesting film and I watched it twice. It inspired me to become an artist and I did a handful of Pollock imitations, several of which sold for a decent price. I love Pollock's work, and I enjoy character studies of people on film . But this gets a little sordid as the film goes on with a definitely-unhappy ending.

Hat's off to Marcia Gay Harden for her performance as Pollock's wife. She has the New York City accent down pat. She is shown worshiping her husband and it's painful to see her get hurt.

The story is a bit soap operish but if you enjoy art, and especially Pollock's work, you'll find this story fascinating. More than one look, however, changes the canvas, so to speak. The story, more than the art, then will come through more and that can be too much of a downer. So, visit this "art show" once and leave it at that.

portrayal of life, lack of meaning

[poison_visions · 7/10 · 14 May 2005]

a good film, though perhaps i was expecting a little more. The psyche of a troubled artist is somewhat predestined these days and maybe it is just that our assumptions are correct as they are all portrayed in a predictable way. If this is how the artist truly was then then Harris could have done nothing different, it just seems a little distant. I didn't feel at one with the artist, i couldn't sympathise with him or feel his pain. The 'intellectual' artistic debates and gendredising continuously used by his wive left me with no sympathy for her. She appears desperate from the first scene pretentiously trying to be involved with the next big thing. The most depressing part of this film is that two people can be stupid enough to waste their lives on each other without searching for the happiness which they truly seek. The emphasis is on Pollock as a man whereas i would like to see more of him as an artist, did his individual paintings have meaning or did he just do them out of hate for the world.... i guess i didn't feel you see his mind and its true agony's, maybe he was just generally mad at the world.

Really not a bad film for what it is, just to me it lacked true emotion.

sio

As vivid and real as Hollywood is likely to make about the painter

[secondtake · 7/10 · 28 August 2010]

Pollock (2000)

There's no question this is a well made film, and based pretty much on truth, and an interesting truth--the life of a great Abstract Expressionist. Some would say the greatest of them all.

For myself, this isn't enough, and I know this is me. I'm an art critic and professor of Art in my real life, and I'm never very patient with movies about artists. The reason isn't that there are inaccuracies, but that there is a subtle or not-subtle goal of aggrandizing the subject. This reaches a beautiful but, again, romanticized, peak when Pollock makes his famous break into true gestural, raw work in a large commissioned piece for Peggy Guggenheim (who is portrayed, oddly, as a shy and dull sort, which I've never pictured). Then later he makes his drip works. And then he dies, again over dramatized and made aesthetic, as tragic and ugly as it had to have been in life.

If you want to really get into Pollock's head, especially if you aren't already a fan (I love Pollock's work), this is a convincing movie. At the helm as both director and playing the artist is Ed Harris. He is especially believable as a painter, which is something of an important point. This isn't like those movies about musicians where the actor is clearly not playing. Harris actually paints the darned thing, the big masterpiece, on the cusp of the drip works. I don't know if Harris was drinking, too, but he's a good drunk, and of course Pollock was a better drinker than a painter, even.

It's a cheap shot to say a movie could have been shorter, but this one sure would have propelled better with less atmosphere, less filler that is meant to create his life but is interesting only as an illustration of historical facts. It wore me thin for those reasons. Again, it might be a matter of how much you can get sucked into the given drama that is Jackson Pollock's life. It was quite a life, crude, untempered, brave, and immensely connected to what matters as an artist.

In The Abstract

[jhclues · 10/10 · 15 April 2001]

The romantic notion of suffering for one's art has been cinematically rendered in countless films, depicting the lives of real life artists ranging from Van Gogh to Camille Claudel to Beethoven to Jim Morrison to Rimbaud; but rarely has a film penetrated as deeply as `Pollock,' directed by and starring Ed Harris as the abstract painter Jackson Pollock. The story begins in 1941 and chronicles Pollock's life until the early ‘50s. It's a vivid, and at times grim portrait of a true artist struggling for recognition, as well as with the inner demons that plague his soul and are reflected in his art and the way he lives his life. It is said that the artist `sees' the world differently than the average person, which may be true; and it is that unique `vision' that sets the artist apart. And Pollock was no exception to the rule.

As romantic as it may sound, the reality of suffering for one's art is just that: Suffering. For realizing that vision and bringing it to fruition is more often than not an arduous and tortuous path to tread. Coalescing the fragments of that vision and transferring that information into reality can be a painful process, and one of the strengths of this film is that it so succinctly conveys that sense of desperation and frustration that are seemingly an intrinsic part of `creating.' There's a scene in which Pollock, after having been commissioned to do a mural, sits on the floor of his studio with his back against the wall staring for days on end at the blank canvas stretched across the room, waiting for that spark of inspiration, that sudden moment when what he must do will crystallize in his mind's eye. It's a powerful, intense scene that allows you to share that creative process with the artist and experience the emotional turmoil of it, as well as the exhilaration of the moment when it all suddenly becomes clear, when the vision is realized. It's a stunning moment; Pollock's face fills the screen and you actually see it in his eyes, the exact moment of discovery. And it's absolute magic.

As Pollock, Ed Harris gives arguably the best performance of his career; he perfectly captures every emotional level of this complex individual, from the manic highs and lows (exacerbated by alcohol consumption) to the neutral moments in between. He totally immerses himself in the character, and what surfaces is a thorough and memorable picture of a tortured genius and flawed human being. It's an astounding piece of work, for which he most certainly should have taken home the Oscar for Best Actor.

Marcia Gay Harden received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Lee Krasner, the woman who loved Pollock and devoted herself (even at the expense of her own career as an artist) to the man and his art. It's a terrific performance, through which Harden brings Lee to life, physically and emotionally. Her amount of screen time seemingly should have qualified her for a Best Actress nomination, but regardless, her work here is unquestionably deserving of the Oscar.

The supporting cast includes Amy Madigan (Peggy Guggenheim), Jennifer Connelly (Ruth), Jeffrey Tambor (Clement), Bud Cort (Howard), John Heard (Tony), Sada Thompson (Stella Pollock) and Val Kilmer (Willem de Kooning). Harris' triumph with `Pollock' does not begin and end with his extraordinary performance, however; though his acting is so exceptional it would be easy to overlook the brilliant job of directing he did with this film. And it is brilliant. The way this film is presented is the work of not only a seasoned professional, but of a professional artist with a unique vision of his own. One of the best films of the year (2000), hopefully it will in the future receive the acclaim of which it is so richly deserving. Hopefully, as well, Harris will direct again; for it is talent like his, and films like this one, that expand the Cinematic Universe as we know it. I rate this one 10/10.

Harris beautifully captures the slowly evolving art world of New York in its time frame with refreshing exactitude.

[khanbaliq2 · 7/10 · 10 September 2010]

This is a quietly excellent film, clearly a labour of love for Harris, and far superior to much of the current Hollywood product. It is aimed at educated adults. The film is the life story of acclaimed abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris), including his surrender to alcohol which led to his untimely death.

Pollock is a superior biopic about an artist, one that really does try seriously to find a way of conveying the wellspring of creativity. The uncompromising Pollock is played with ferocity by Harris, and his supporting cast do the picture justice. Apart from its other virtues, the film sheds light on the bitchiness and jealousies rampant in the art world - and how some artists play the games of that world more readily than others.

A good biopic...

[L8nDA · 10/10 · 2 May 2001]

Ed Harris has taken the biopic to a new level. Although the skeleton of the film is no more than the troubled life of an alcoholic struggling with fame, the power of the acting and sequence of the film take it a step further. The relationship between Krasner and Pollock mirrors that of Stanley and Stella Kowalski but Krasner is a much stronger character and Marcia Gay Harden more than deserved the oscar she received for the part. The only part that concerned me was the explanation Harris chose to show Pollock's progression to his drip paintings. The arbitrariness of the "revelation" seems stretched to me and suggests that it is actually known how Pollock made that movement. All in all, the movie is excellent and worth seeing.

Just be careful - I cringed every time he got into a car...

A noble failure

[aplotkin · 6/10 · 13 May 2003]

This film, although containing a surfeit of good intentions and ultra-sincere performances (especially Ed Harris), ultimately failed for me, despite my interest in art in general, and in Jackson Pollock in particular. Both the story and the character are opaque at best and non-descript at worst. Real Pollock's story contains many very interesting and potentially juicy elements, for example his relationship and contempt for his true champion and patron, Peggy Guggenheim, are not given any coherent treatment and merely hinted at. We are not given any indications as to where Pollock's rages or his alcoholism are coming from and secondary characters, including Lee Krasner are pure cardboard. Pollock's views on art are not made clear (except briefly in a radio interview - and even here it is hard to tell if Pollock really means it or is just being facetious, or drunk - it could be either). Many scenes are simply inexplicable, like the one with the documentary-maker - it is not clear what is meant by them, what they contribute to the story or to the character. On the positive side, the movie is brilliantly shot and the painting scenes are quite well done.

Action Jackson

[tgulotta · 10/10 · 19 December 2000]

While this film is flooded with holes in Pollacks short career, we do get a glimpse of his struggle and process. I was sorry that a few other notable artist that were a part of Pollacks art scene were not portrayed during this great period of time. Mark Rothko, Louise Nevelson and Robert Motherwell to name a few. Also, Pollack worked as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for a short time. This environment was partly responsible for exposing him to the dominant European invasion of art in America. I would have liked more in depth insights into why Pollack began painting and why he was so tortured. Ed Harris does a fine job with the material he was working with, but they could have covered more bases in Pollacks life and I know Harris would have stepped up to the plate.

In one scene Pollack is pacing back and forth in front of a large blank canvass. It is a stunning scene watching his shadow run along that large white surface waiting for the moment he would begin to paint. Another scene takes us to East Hampton where he is kneeling down out in the salt marshes staring into a tide pool. Just this pose alone suggests a precursor to removing the canvass from the wall and placing it on the floor.

There are a few quiet moments that capture the subtle Pollack and I wish they explored more in this direction. In so many of these artist portrayals the essence of the process and inspiration gets lost in the drama of their personalities.

However, this movie takes on an ambitious man and an ambitious time in American Art. I was grateful to have seen with my own eyes several Pollack shows over the years and to have studied and experimented myself with Abstract Expressionism.

I think Ed Harris and Marcia Gay Harden should be nominated for their incredible portrayals of these two great artists. Moreover, whether you know a great deal about Pollack, this film will allow you to glimpse into the life of Jackson, but it will also expose you to his wonderful partner, Lee Krasner.

Suffers the Fate of Many a Biopic

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 13 July 2010]

"Pollock" suffers the fate of many a biopic about famous artists. It makes the mistake of thinking that people who produce interesting art are by extension going to be interesting themselves, and they're so frequently not. Usually, they're messed up, but in the same old tired ways in which everyone else is messed up, and I leave a film like "Pollock" wishing I had just looked at some Jackson Pollock paintings instead of spending time in the man's head.

But all that criticism aside, "Pollock" is a fairly accomplished film, and it's clear that director/star Ed Harris cared strongly about his subject. His performance is good, but by definition one-note and a bit obtuse, because Pollock himself was apparently those things. It's Marcia Gay Harden, in the obligatory and thankless suffering consort role that all biopics have, who gives the most impressive performance.

Grade: B

A long way around a barn in Connecticut

[Michael Fargo · 2/10 · 23 February 2001]

I doubt there are many folks who don't like Ed Harris as an actor. Over the last two decades he's given strong performances with a certain subtlety that is a trademark. Therefore, I'm also reasonably sure most people going to see his directorial debut can extend quite a bit of goodwill for a project Harris states he's wanted to put on the screen for a decade.

My own patience was used up after 20 minutes when I realized there was no one on the screen that Harris either understood or admired. For instance, the scene where Pollock urinates in Peggy Guggenheim's fireplace during a New Year's Eve party left the audience with only one choice: To laugh. The individuals at the party were portrayed as worthy of such an act because they were snobs. And indeed scorn is heaped upon any institution that's portrayed in the film: Marriage, art criticism, artists, family relationships, filmmakers, friendships, lovers…. Everyone gets smeared here. I guess the dog comes off pretty well, but he's got a small part.

I can see why an actor would be drawn to this material. Jackson Pollock led a life that seemed destined for members of the Actor's Studio to portray. There are many, many opportunities to emote. But a film should be more than an essay on acting large. Scenes are held much longer than necessary; many are tedious or just baffling.

With the exception of Amy Madigan, the acting was a disappointment for me. Harris and Harden's performances seemed in different styles, primarily because Harris is almost vacant in presence unless he's smashing bottles or overturning dinner tables.

Spending so long working on this project, I felt like Harris had become so close to the material that he excluded the audience in what was crucial character information. How did he discover he liked to paint? What was his mysterious psychiatric diagnosis? Was he in a psychiatric hospital or a detox tank? What were the pills Krasner puts before Pollock? Were they helpful? Hurtful?

In general a screenplay that jumps back and forth in time using only placards like `Five years earlier' or `Two months later' signals an inherent weakness that a coherent narrative hasn't been developed.

It's too bad because there was a lot of effort here. There's surprising gracefulness in Harris' brushwork. But we don't know why the character--as an artist--is standing there and we don't see anyone truly moved by the result. We're told `Oh, that's wonderful,' but it's by characters who are neither trustworthy or have demonstrated they aren't sincere.

The most tiresome chestnut, that artists have to be ONLY artists and not functioning members of society, is the most glaring problem with the film. When Krasner screams, `We can't be parents, we're painters!' everyone sitting in the audience really knows `You can't be parents because he's an egomaniac and a drunk.' And I don't think that's a fair legacy for artists, particularly of Jackson Pollock's stature.

impressive biopic

[Buddy-51 · 3 November 2001]

Although the film doesn't exactly startle us with its thesis – that the life of an artist is rarely a happy one – `Pollock' manages to skirt most of the clichés inherent in the `tortured-artist' biographical genre to provide us with a complex study not only of the man himself but also of the woman who stood beside him through most of his troubled life.

Jackson Pollock was, of course, the prototypical `struggling genius' – neurotic, insecure, arrogant, self-absorbed and forever locked in an epic struggle with his own private demons (in Pollock's case, alcoholism). Out of this morass of personal weaknesses, the painter perfected his art – which became a reflection and synthesis of the raw elements comprising the emotionally chaotic world in which he lived. The film introduces us to the man in 1941 when he is still a virtual unknown living in Greenwich Village, bellowing in an alcoholic rage against the success of Picasso, in whose shadow Pollock seems to be forever hidden away from public view. One day, into his life walks Lee Krasner, a similar, though less gifted, modern artist who detects Pollock's special genius and becomes the future art world celebrity's greatest champion and lover.

Much of the fascination of the film lies in the examination of the complexities of the almost love-hate relationship that develops between the two. On the one hand, we sense that Jackson and Lee provide just the right emotional complement for one another – a shared symbiosis which lays the foundation for an environment in which Pollock's creativity and artistic experimentation can expand and flourish. Lee, for instance, wages a fierce battle to secure Pollock's acceptance among the crème de la crème of New York's art world elite, the result of which is eventual name recognition for Pollock the world over. Yet, Lee pays an ultimate price for her tenacious possessiveness: so all consumed does she become in the life and work of the man who will change the face of modern art that she begins to alienate him and eventually push him away. Unwilling to share him even with a child of their own, she ends up depriving Pollock of the chance of experiencing the joys of fatherhood. The final result is that he is truly left with nothing but his identity as a painter. Thus, as his reputation begins to become eclipsed by newer, younger artists, and as he retreats back into an alcoholic haze after a couple of years of productive sobriety, Pollock's life begins its inevitable spiral downwards into hopelessness and tragedy.

Ed Harris not only stars in the film but directed it as well. He does a superb job on both counts. As Pollock, he supplies the brooding sensitivity as well as the physical intensity that are reflected in the artist's paintings themselves. One never doubts the genuine love Pollock has for Lee, yet always there is the constant threat of physical violence lying latent beneath his placid surface. Marcia Gay Harden matches Harris' performance every step of the way. Beneath her determined, hard-edged exterior lies a woman capable of sincere attachment and a total devotion to both a person and the cause he represents.

Unlike so many films dealing with the lives of artists – in which we see brief glimpses of paint-dabbing followed almost immediately by views of the finished products – `Pollock' provides generous opportunities to see Pollock (i.e. Harris) in action. We sit spellbound as we watch him take a plain white canvas and, step by step, convert it into a work of beauty and art.

If for no other reason, the film is worth seeing just to whet one's appetite and renew one's appreciation for Pollock's work.

A excellent but marginally interesting film

[=G= · 7/10 · 25 July 2001]

"Pollock" tells of the life of American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. A excellent film in most respects, this tour-de-force by Ed Harris has one glaring flaw. Pollock simply wasn't a sufficiently interesting subject to expect his biopic to have mass appeal. We've all seen films of alcoholic, neurotic, tormented artists and "Pollock" is just another to add to the muddle of Van Gogh, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, and others. "Pollock should appeal most to those with an interest in painting.

Less original than its subject

[paul2001sw-1 · 6/10 · 10 March 2009]

The elements of the biopic of the artist are well defined: the struggle with drink and/or drugs, the love of a good woman, the defining moment of inspiration, the recreation of the art itself and the succession of minor characters whose primary role seems to be to comment on the exact status of the hero's career. In this sense, Ed Harris' film 'Pollock' is quite similar to the films made about Ray Charles or Johnny Cash, differentiated primarily by the stubborn refusal of the narrative of Pollock's life to fit into a happy ending. Harris not only directs but also stars, and he gives a performance of studied intensity, forcing the audience to respect his unconventional art through the display of commitment to it manifested by the man. But the root cause of Pollock's demons remain hidden to us; and one wonders if there was perhaps, in a fragment of the man's troubled life, a better story than there is in the whole of it.

A nice story yet not so much an entertainment

[Seraphion · 6/10 · 25 July 2014]

A great story about a talent in art. Still this story tells the same old song about most of the talented minds in the world, that their success doesn't guarantee they get it better in everything else in life. The screenplay is developed nicely to encompass the life stages of Pollock. The scenes feel balanced in dividing between the New York Years and the country years, the years before marriage, the married years, and even the dysfunctional marriage years. I like to see the consistent character delve done by Ed Harris here. Marcia Gay Harden also did a great job in getting into character and also getting into the the ways of the era. Jennifer Connelly and the other supporting character also give a nice addition to the movie overall. Yet the movie feels to much like Pollock's mind, empty, lonely and troubled, that it seemed a very unlikely entertainment for me.

Moving and mesmerizing look at the painter Pollock

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 2 March 2001]

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

Pollock

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 27 February 2009]

I knew this was a biographical film about an artist, I found out about it mainly because of Ed Harris, also directing, and the protagonist has the same first name I do. This is the true story of artist Jackson Pollock (Oscar nominated Harris), who towards the end of the 1940's, was trying to find his spark again. He was an expressionist who only painted what he wanted, and had no care for meaning or genre. First he used his brush and painted random lines and shapes, but then he found that he could create much more interesting expression with the brush by dripping the paint onto the canvas. His paintings made a real breakthrough, and he had critic praise, including an article in Life magazine. But old demons were bound to come back, and his wife Lee Krasner (Oscar winning Flubber actress Marcia Gay Harden) had to tolerate his alcoholism, which was ultimately forced her out, and killed him in his fatal car crash, along with one of two women. Also starring Amy Madigan as Peggy Guggenheim, Jennifer Connelly as Ruth Kligman, Jeffrey Tambor as Clem Greenberg, Bud Cort as Howard Putzel, John Heard as Tony Smith, Val Kilmer as Willem DeKooning, Stephanie Seymour as Helen Frankenthaler, Sada Thompson as Stella Pollock, Kenny Scharf as William Baziotes, Barbara Garrick as Betty Parsons and Everett Quinton as James Johnson Sweeney. Harris gives a very convincing portrayal, as well as good directing skills, and Harden does give an Oscar worthy performance as his patiently suffering wife. The story does have some powerful structure, and the highlights for me are both the creation of and finished paintings. Very good!

Interesting & well done

[signlady · 9/10 · 7 April 2022]

As an unknown artist, (sign painter by trade) I enjoy reading books & watching movies about art in all eras.

That I enjoy just about everything Ed Harris has done is just icing on the cake. Or in this case, another master brush stroke.

I saw this movie when it first came out - and finally snagged the DVD for under 3 bux. Yeh. As an artist, I'm starving - will wait 20 years for a deal or do without . . . Lol

Anyway, regarding this movie, it is well done. All the scenes, wardrobe, cast, production & direction, locations, etc - all that is there - but what's best is the 'feel' is there - the moods.

The lifestyle, the weather, the emotional moods; angsts, fears, contentment, etc.

It is not really all that common for all these things to come together so adequately in a movie.

Harris portrays Pollock as so many gifted artists (& writers etc) are; Conflicted. Manic. Depressive.

In this portrayal, Pollock seems to have rapid cycle manic-depression - if you know what that is, then of course you understand.

The art: I've had endless disagreements over abstract art with several friends trying to explain it.

It is not explainable in terms of hoity-toity, snobbish, condescending terms, phrases & paragraphs, tho critics & writers like trying to outdo each other at it and which leads to the most ludicrous, nonsensical, assuming comments that cannot be interpreted with any logic.

In this film, I like how those critiques are read and portrayed with the same condescension & airs they were initiated with, making fun of and showing exactly how pompous these art explanations are.

In my opinion, abstract art is about nothing more than catharsis. The catharsis of expressing & getting it out of your head. The catharsis of physically feeling a medium with your fingers or hands combined with your internal feelings emerging & merging with your external - whether applying a medium to a substrate, or molding a shape, or creating a melody, or putting lyrics together, or dance, or writing.

The reason it can so often be inexplicable is bc it so often intensely personal. Abstract art is not so much for the viewer to see, but for the artist to see their own emotion.

To identify - the average person does it doodling, sewing, gardening, golfing, etc. Activities one enjoys doing & feeling say for examples, the dirt in ones hands, watching plants emerge, the way the golf club feels - the sound of the ball whizzing away. All hobbies do something to help a person express something. Typically a desire to feel accomplishment, to relax - again with the 'ect' bc these things are endless . . and an artist does it with paint, words, clay, music, etc.

It might be a fact that any child could sling paint exactly like Pollock. (or dance, or write, or sculpt, expressing themselves, yes, but (usually, generally) playing.

But the entire difference for the artist (not the viewer) is what is seen from the artists eyes (of any age) the contrasts, forms, textures, even such tiny details as how light reflects on the edge of something & a million other things - things raging from the internal accessing the brain to move & get these things out into the tangible.

And that is what this film portrays so well.

Jack the Dripper...

[higherall7 · 7/10 · 29 March 2021]

This is quite a transition from John Glenn to the iconoclastic Paul Jackson Pollock. While going to the College for Creative Studies I got to know more about the various movements and styles of Art that have predominated down through the centuries. Pollock's stuff is great, and Ed Harris got his style of creation right improvising brush strokes the way one improvises notes in progressive jazz or phrases of words in projective or free verse. All the time striving for a formal quality such as you would ironically find in a training exercise in the Martial Arts or a kata. This is also emphasized and underlined by the accompanying musical score of Jeff Beal. I have gotten to know a few abstract artists in my time, the great Gilda Snowden being the most preeminent in our area when it came to Abstract Expressionism. Its inside-out energy and vigor is at once intriguing and compelling as it rivets the attention.

My own personal experience with abstract Art has mostly been that of an accidental encounter. But I can easily recognize those who have a gift for it. That is, for creating from within one's self rather than constantly referencing from external surroundings or even material Nature itself. Pollock would probably agree with me that the true canvas is one's own soul. This film graphically displays how Pollock captured his own angst and anguish in what he may have considered a vain attempt to transcend it.

Film is not live theater, where the revelation often comes from a spoken line of dialogue or the sudden interaction and confrontation between two or more main characters. Sometimes the reason for being of a film is particularly contained in one absorbing image or scene. The beginning of this film stays with me where Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock is caught by Marcia Gay Harden as Lee Krasner in a moment of deep reflection or reverie. I believe he has just signed a woman's copy of LIFE magazine that has an article about him in it and you can see it in his face. This fan of his work and celebrity is treating him as though he has made it. But you can see the damage to his psyche recorded in the devastation upon his face. He knows he hasn't made it even though he tried his utmost to do so. It's an interior monologue that is unforgettable and to which Harris as director returns to near the end of the film. In the East, the practice of an art is supposed to bring inner peace and a sense of self mastery. But we see none of that in the visage of Pollock that Harris brings us. Instead, upon this face we see the smouldering remains of a battleground where the war for self has been lost. The sense that he is somewhat amused that the very thing he thought would enlarge him has to a very marked extent diminished him, made him less of what he is rather than more of what he is somehow. He is not particularly tripping or in heart ache about it. It is more of a '- what do you know? I am here now and it is different from what I thought it would be -'. For my money, it's a great movie moment that redeems the predictability of 'The Artist as a tortured Soul' theme that inevitably runs as a main strand throughout the rest of the picture.

That Pollock neither finds inner peace or self mastery in Abstract Expressionism for all his labors makes for a beautiful movie. That these were his aims is evident in the frenzy of his working method and the genius of his results. Quixotic as his efforts may have been and doomed to failure due to somehow choosing the wrong means to achieve the right ends, it is the striving for that ideal thing and finding at last the soul in desolation which perhaps unites all artists with the rest of humanity. This is also perhaps the angst of the West that very often gives high value to the artifacts and remains of dead cultures and civilizations rather than to the living process of Life itself. Harris' Pollock searches for something that is not there and loses a part of himself in trying to find it.

Therefore this film leaves you to praise the effort if not the final result in the life of a man. You praise the Art and the body of work while abhorring the kind of life from which it was spawned. It has always fascinated me how much of society looks up to artists as higher beings when their personalities reveal them to be as riddled with flaws and failings as anyone else. Jackson Pollock was certainly battling his demons, and Barbara Turner's screenplay gives a fair assessment of his highly charged personality as well as his shortcomings in interpersonal relationships. Val Kilmer gives us a memorable cameo as Willem DeKooning and Jennifer Connelly as Ruth Kligman helps us to feel the full fury of Pollock's unbalanced destructive impulses, while revealing to us in her relationship to him that very lack of inner peace and self mastery that drove him to have ethical feet of clay.

Intelligent, powerful and compelling

[FlickJunkie-2 · 10/10 · 29 July 2001]

This film has my vote as one of the best films of 2000. It is a film that succeeds on every level. Ed Harris delivers a tour de force exhibition of acting and directorial prowess in this intense and intelligent biopic on the life of Jackson Pollock.

For Harris this was not so much a filmmaking project as it was a personal obsession. Harris, who is himself a painter, had thought about making a biographical film about Pollock for over a decade. When Steven Naifeh published the book, `Jackson Pollock: An American Saga', Harris saw his chance. He turned to Barbara Turner and Susan Emschwiller to write a screenplay based on the book, and he began to immerse himself in an all consuming mania that in many ways was analogous to the frenzied passion of the painter he hoped to portray.

From a directorial standpoint, the film is extraordinary in every regard, which is quite remarkable for a first time director. Harris creates an intricate and complex weave with a character study that is simultaneously moving, exhilarating and tragic. The period renderings are meticulously correct, from the costumes and furniture to the cars and the vintage packages on the shelves of the country store. The music selection is a fantastic swirl of big band and other jazz standards from the 1940's from Benny Goodman to Billie Holiday. The photography (with kudos to cinematographer Lisa Rinzler) is excellent with some extraordinary lighting effects, especially the backlit scene where Jackson and Lee first make love. As if all of this weren't enough, Harris induces unbelievably compelling performances out of all the cast members.

Harris has always been an artist among celebrities, a hard working and accomplished actor living on the fringes in supporting roles or minor leads. Given the freedom afforded by producing, directing and acting in this film, his talent and skill shine forth unencumbered. His performance is nothing short of phenomenal. He seems more like he is channeling than acting. The DVD includes some footage of the actual Pollock at work and after seeing this, Harris' portrayal takes on an almost eerie realism. In the painting scenes, Harris like Pollock attacks the canvas like a man possessed, with rapid strokes that make it seem as if his muscles can't react as fast as the genius that is flowing forth. In the dramatic scenes, Harris delivers a white hot performance of a tormented and moody genius struggling with alcohol addiction and an enormous inferiority complex. He received his third Oscar nomination for this performance, his first for best actor. I don't know if Harris will ever be able to surpass his performance here, given the level of dedication and inspiration he possessed regarding the subject matter, but I certainly hope this opens opportunities in both lead acting roles and directorial projects worthy of his abilities.

Marcia Gay Hardin gives a performance that goes stride for stride with Harris. She won the Oscar for best supporting actress and fully deserved it. She captures the essence of Lee Krasner's unbending devotion to Pollock, subjugating her own painting pursuits to support and promote his career (Krasner went on to become a prominent artist in her own right after Pollock's death). Her 1940's Brooklyn accent is superb, as is her command of the zeitgeist of the intelligentsia of the period. Amy Madigan is also terrific as Peggy Guggenheim, the flamboyant gallery owner and niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim, the benefactor of the famous Guggenheim museum (though this relationship is not mentioned in the film).

This film is superlative in almost every way. It opened in limited distribution, shown on less than 10% of the nation's screens, and still managed to gross $8 Million. I rated it a 10/10. I highly recommend it to the intelligent viewer and to lovers of fine art.

Excellent Biography

[room102 · 7/10 · 9 October 2015]

Watching "Big Eyes (2014)" really made me want to see a GOOD biography movie about a painter. This is the 3rd or 4th I'm watching this movie (my first watch was at the cinema).

This movie is so much better than "Big Eyes" - everything about it is great: Direction (Ed Harris himself), cinematography, score, writing. The entire cast is wonderful, especially Ed Harris - he's just excellent and all the scenes of him painting are very realistic (it's obvious he studied Pollock back and forth) - although he was only nominated for an Oscar and Marcia Gay Harden actually won one.

I really like the direction/writing/acting approach of everything presented very realistically and natural, like people really act - there's no smooch and people smiling all the time, like you usually see in movies. Everything is straight forward and real. It's pretty noticeable in Marcia Gay Harden's character (acting and speech). Pollock is a broken character, with lots of damages, problems and imperfections - very far from the usual Hollywood presentation.

I like the way they present Pollock as a passive character and Lee Krasner as the active of the two, doing all the decisions, pushing Pollock forward without hurting her own ego. If you want an example of a strong female character in a movie, she's a good example - I hate how people throw this term for just about any silly/weak/meaningless female character in other movies.

The last part of the movie is a bit weak, but other than that it's great.

This movie is one - if not THE - best movie biographies I've seen about a painter.

Terrible Movie - Who Cares About Pollock?

[bdenyes · 2/10 · 26 May 2002]

Considering the way painter Pollock is portrayed in this movie, I could not feel for him in any way. He was such a "jerk" - especially in the way he behaved towards those who loved him. After a half-hour of this drivel, I just plain didn't care about him any more, and couldn't wait for the movie to end. The only noteworthy things about the film were the acting of Ed Harris (the reason I watched the film), his cooooool car and the acting of Marcia Gay Harding (too bad her terrific performance was stuck in such a boring movie). Only 2 stars out of 10 -thumbs way down. Oh and P.S. - even I can paint as well as Jackson - that must be why I have such a boring life too!!