Pollock (2000)

Directed by and starring Ed Harris, Pollock is a biographical drama detailing the life of famed American artist, Jackson Pollock. Pollock has been sat in my LoveFilm list for two or three years now, eventually making it through my letter box this weekend. I can't recall exactly what made me want to see it, though it is certainly note worthy in a number of aspects. Most notably, the film was Ed Harris' directorial debut. It was the only film that he had helmed up to 2008. His second film as director, Appaloosa, is currently in post-production.

In addition to Harris in the lead role as Jackson Pollock, the film stars Marcia Gay Harden as Pollock's wife, and artist in her own right, Lee Krasner. Notable members of the supporting cast include Jeffrey Tambor, Bud Cort, Val Kilmer and Jennifer Connelly. Pollock took a modest box office and received two Academy Award nominations. Harden won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, while Ed Harris lost out on the Oscar for Best Actor to Russell Crowe for Gladiator.

I knew little of Jackson Pollock before this and Harris does well to introduce the character. Jackson Pollock is clearly remarkable. Talented but often overlooked by the critics, he fights alcoholism and an awkward immaturity that leads to fitful tantrums.

Harris defines a clear separation between the art and the booze, showing how Pollock's best work is done sober. He goes so far as to show Pollock being physically unable to commit paint to canvas while drunk in a scene in which he'd become enraged by a critique of his work.

Most interesting for me was Pollock's childishness and his relationship with his wife. This is best summed up by the scene in which Pollock states that he wants children. Lee refused, stating that she had enough trouble looking after him. Indeed, Pollock seemed unable to take care of himself, even unaware that he needed to take care of himself. He initially relied on one of his brothers and his sister-in-law, before eventually relying on Lee. I'm not sure it was love, more of an acceptance of her care in the place of his mother. It was most unusual to see his childlike glee at seeing his mother after several extended absences in the film. He seemed unfazed or unaware of the alluded to length of time that he'd been away from her, only delighted that she was there at that moment in time.

The city was clearly a bad influence on Pollock. He and Lee eventually marry and move out in to the country where, free from the distracting hustle and bustle of New York City, he is able to connect with nature, give up the booze and develop the style that would make him famous. That style should be familiar to most. He creates his art without the brush touching the canvas, instead using the brush like a stick, dripping and splatting paint on the canvas. Harris is generous in giving a few scenes to simply watch Pollock create art, showing how he works to create the pieces. Pollock seems frustrated by people trying to make sense of his work. His childishness comes to the fore in this, as he simply likes to paint, creating something where there was nothing.

Perhaps the best scene in the film takes place in the first third. Pollock is commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim to create a mural for her house. He makes a giant canvas and places it up against the wall in his studio in his New York City apartment. He spends weeks getting the measure of the canvas, just watching it, taking in the potential, before suddenly it all comes together and he puts brush to canvas for the first time. Jeff Beal's soundtrack comes in well at this point to create an excellent synergy between musical and painted art.

It's the art that often takes centre stage throughout Harris' shots. Pollock's deep, layered colours being the focus point of many scenes, despite merely sitting in the background, on a wall as a human drama unfolds in front of them.

In the end, Pollock returns to the booze as the critics find new artists to favour. His relationship with Lee Krasner goes in to meltdown, but she refuses to leave him, keeping her faith in his art, even as he became unfaithful, hurtful and hateful. She outlived him by nearly 30 years, producing some of her own best work in that time according to the film's epilogue text. I really liked Marcia Gay Harden in the role, she was headstrong, but loving and seemingly willing to take a back seat on her own career to help her husband develop his. I wasn't sure that I'd seen much of Harden before, but I had actually seen her a couple of months ago when I saw Miller's Crossing on DVD. More recently, she appeared in Mystic River and the 2007 adaptation of Stephen King's The Mist.

Pollock never really hits any spectacular heights, though it is an always intriguing examination of a creative soul. Marcia Gay Harden in the role of Jackson Pollock's wife was a particular highlight and well worth the Academy Award that she received for it. Ed Harris clearly has a talent for directing, though this film was born out if his own passion for the life and work of Jackson Pollock. It'll be interesting to see what he can do with a subject matter that he is not so close to.

Connections with other films in The Gallery: Jennifer Connelly - Dark Water (2005) as Dahlia Williams

Links: Pollock (IMDb) Pollock (LoveFilm) Trailer Jackson Pollock Lee Krasner