Pollock

Jackson Pollock a maverick of American contemporary art history, A volatile and gifted painter,wgo created some of the most memorable art ever seen. This film is based upon the book "Jackson Pollock,An American Saga" which won many awards. Ed Harris funded and directed this powerful film himself. And really captures the artist's vision and torment. It uses the actual house and Barn where Pollock himself painted. and for many months prior to making the film Ed learnt't to paint and set up his own studio, he studied the famous films of the artist in action by Hans Namuth. Marcia Gay Harding is also astounding as Lee Krasner, Pollock's wife and also and artist and it captures their volatile relationship. Ed actually looks like the artist and the sequences of him painting as Pollock are amazing. It captures a period of american art history, Ed Harris's wife plays Peggy Guggenheim the patron and art collector who helped and nurtured Pollock and made the world take notice of him and the other artists who were part of the Abstract Expressionists, she was a pioneer herself and really believed in Pollock's genius. It's an astounding film, hard to watch in places, but shows the price of fame and of battling with personal demons too and the effects on those around you. Ed Harris lived and breathed this persona and it shows in his amazing performance, and Marcia Gay Harding is equally as amazing,two very powerful and emotive performances for sure. Krasner loved Pollock deeply though he didn't always treat her well and it tore her apart when he died. She sacrificed her own life as an artist to help push Pollock into the world's viewing eye but paid a heavy price in the end and this film captures all of this. The whole cast in this film really capture the people they play and it comes together in a powerful tour de force of film. This was a labour of love for Ed Harris, but it really works on every level. If you love modern america art, you will love this film.The first time I saw it at the cinema I felt drained afterwards as it does really touch you and is gut wrenching in places. Pollock was a visionary and a tortured genius and this film captures the man superbly. A must see film for sure.

This is an engrossing film about the American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. It can be approached in several different ways. It can be seen as a tale about a heroic, flawed American, who temporarily overcomes his personal demons to gain global success. Then his demons destroy him. Alternatively, it can be seen as an important contribution to the history of art. Finally, it can be seen as the story of a woman’s love for a struggling, wounded man and her successful campaign to get him the recognition he deserved. In fact, it is all three of these. It is also a very responsible film. It avoids any Hollywood myth-making and recounts faithfully the later part of Jackson Pollock’s life from meeting his future wife through to his untimely death.The mass media of the early 1950s slotted Jackson Pollock into an area they had already populated with James Dean and Marlon Brando. Pollock joined these demi-gods through the publicity of an article in Life magazine, followed by the photographs and films of him at work by Hans Namuth (1). This was the Cold War and Abstract Expressionism was quietly promoted by the CIA as a Free World alternative to the Socialist Realism paintings of the Communist bloc. Ironically, most of the Abstract Expressionist were left wing and some of them were Marxists.The film starts with a young woman waiting at a glamourous art gallery event for the newly famous American painter to sign her catalogue. He signs it, but in his eye he looks like a trapped animal. This cuts to a few years earlier with a drunken Pollock and his brother arriving back at his brother’s walk-up downtown New York apartment, to the dismay of his brother’s pregnant wife. Pollock is a mess. Soon this messed-up Pollock will meet another New York Abstract Expressionist painter, Lee Krasner, who introduces him to Peggy Guggenheim, a gallery owner. Pollock’s fortunes are on the up. They marry and move from the city to rural Long Island. Pollock stops drinking and finds fame and fortune. But it cannot last. He starts drinking again, continually argues with his wife and drives drunk as if he has a death wish. His painting and reputation suffer. In the end his drunken driving means his death wish comes true.SPECIAL FEATURES: It is worthwhile to look at the Special Features option on the DVD. The section about the making of the film is divided into: Pollock: Behind the Scenes, The Script, The Director, The Character, The Painting and The Artist. The section “The Painting” explains that they re-created more than 150 paintings for the film. These were mainly recreations of paintings by Jackson and his wife Lee, but some other painters used in the gallery scenes. At first they tried a sophisticated process using digital transparency transferred to silk screen printing, then rendered to give texture to the final results. Unfortunately, despite all the technology, the final results were lifeless. So they turned to the film’s scenic designers and to other artists, who re-created the paintings. Ed Harris played Pollock, and Harris himself was an amateur painter. He could watch the films of Hans Namuth to see Pollock creating his action (drip) paintings. Harris was able to capture the physicality of Pollock’s method, the Tai Chi of his Shamanist painting method._______________________________________________________________________________________________(1) Search the Web for “youtube jackson pollock hans namuth”.

He might have been a great artist but he certainly wasn't a very interesting or likeable man. The film is okay i suppose but we sure didn't find it interesting or really very informative about what made him tick. Still, it has been well received critically so i'm sure lots of other folk got much more out of it than we did. I think it needed a better script and a more detached director. For Ed Harris it was a labour of love i'm sure....