Pollock (Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Pollock (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Honest portrait of a flawed man
Summary: 5 Stars
I always try to catch this film when it's on TV, but I always stop watching before its terrible ending. Jackson Pollock was a great artist, thanks in no small part to his shrewd wife, Lee Krasner. She was the intermediary between this disturbed and ultimately psychotic man and the sophisticated New York art world that never knew quite what to make of him. Compared to today, the postwar New York art scene looks quaintly innocent. All it took was some pontificating by Clement Greenberg and a spread in Life magazine to make Pollock's career. Ed Harris plays Pollock well, and the scenes where he actually paints are fascinating. The film also does a does a good job of showing how artists actually lived in fifties in New York. By today's standards, it was a grubby life in dilapidated walk-ups painted in the harsh, cheap white paint favored by cheap landlords. But it was possible to be poor and still live in Manhattan. In a way, Krasner did her job too well. Pollock was emotionally unprepared for his fame and it sent him (and ultimately, poor Edith Metzger who had the bad luck to be in his car at the wrong time) over the deep end. Pollock is an honest movie that is obviously a labor of love on the part of director Harris and the actors whose performances are excellent.Movie Review: A tribute to Ed Harris.
Summary: 5 Stars
Like most DVDs this one has a commentary track. Avoid it. From blowing off an overacting extra at the very get go to complaining about having to pay for every copywrited detail Ed Harris continually points out that Ed Harris made this film because his Dad told Ed he looked just like Pollack so he ought to become Pollack for all the world to see. This is odd because if Pollack had any problem it was not with an inflated ego.Commentary aside I think art people will enjoy this film because Harris is an excellent actor and an excellent director of the art biography genre. It doesn't follow the book that closely and completely avoids the homosexuality issue but all in all gets a good artistic point across: some people are artists and some people are really artists, Pollack was an incredible artist. You see him deal with painting, you see him painting, you see him engaging critics. You don't see him dealing much with other artists as painters but that's a minor point.
You'll never see Jackson Pollack's stacked around like cordwood anywhere else.
Movie Review: What about Janet Sobel, who invented drip painting!
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this movie. Ed Harris is totally convincing as Pollock. Harden as the long-suffering, inspired wife is perfect.
But Peggy Gugenheim discovered another painter and included her paintings in a 1946 show. The artist was Janet Sobel, who had first picked up a paintbrush at age 43 and who began producing drip paintings a few years later. Her drip paintings in the Gugenheim show in 1946 were seen by Clement Greenberg and Jackson Pollock. In fact, Pollock admitted that the paintings of Sobel had made a strong impression on him.
There is no question that Pollock far surpassed the few tentative and unskilled drip paintings of Sobel, but the scene in which he accidentally drips paint on the floor next to his canvas, leading to his decision to drip the paint onto the canvas, now raises the following question: Had Pollock not seen Sobel's work, would he have been able to recognize the accidentally dripped paint as an alternate means of applying paint--or would he have wiped it up and continued to paint with a brush?
Movie Review: Painting a World
Summary: 5 Stars
"Pollock" is an underrated masterpiece by actor/director Ed Harris. It is a mesmerizing portrayal of the 20th century's most polarizing artists. Whether you enjoy or dislike Pollock's paintings, this movie is quite moving. Ed Harris studied the character of Pollock deeply--the rough Wyoming artist who hit it big in New York City. He shows Pollock in all his aspects--from an admirable artist to a violent alcoholic to an overweight womanizer. Marcia Gay Harden is equally great as Pollock's pained wife, Lee Krasner.
"Pollock" is not only historically accurate, but authentic when dealing with the characters' emotional struggles. Pollock is not without his faults--alcoholism among them. Harris' real-life wife, Amy Madigan, stars as socialite Peggy Guggenheim, and Val Kilmer stars as Willem De Kooning. Jennifer Connelly appears later as Pollock's much younger mistress, who supplants Krasner in Pollock's passions.
"Pollock" is an artful work, painting on the big screen!
Movie Review: Jackson Pollock Remembered
Summary: 5 Stars
Ed Harris stars, directs, and produces the great 2000 film "Pollock". It wonderfully portrays the life and turbulances of famed painter Jackson Pollock. This beautiful film shows how Pollock became world-known. However, more than his art is expressed. His struggles and destructive lifestyle represent his art influences and portray who he was. This brilliant plot expresses the emotional side of the events wonderfully. Such depth proves Ed Harris's, who plays Pollock, true fascination. The radiance keeps audiences interested scene by scene, leading to the surprising conclusion. Through everything, the Oscar-nominated performances by Harris and Marcia Gay Harden (she won) play the key role in this masterpiece. Their passion within their characters is expressed beautifully, giving the chain of events the necessary added emotional stance. Such film quality makes "Pollock" sure to please audiences of all kinds. Its emotional value is sure to continue touching audiences as it has.