R E V I E W S

Pollock (2000)

Starring: Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Amy Madigan, Jennifer Connelly
Director: Ed Harris
Rating: R

Studio: Sony Classics

Review Posted: 4.16.01

Rating: 3.5/4

By Michael Brendan McLarney.

"Shining Art, Abstract Personality"

Like many artistic geniuses, Jackson Pollock was an emotionally tortured individual. But unlike many films depicting emotionally tortured, brilliantly artistic individuals, Ed Harris' "Pollock" displays all the traits of the abstract painter in the most rudimentary form without feeling to need to make its own statement regarding the man. This is one confident movie.

A labor of love taking over ten years to complete, "Pollock" observes the painters life from the introduction to his future wife, fellow painter Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden) through the maturation of his art (including his "accidental" discovery of the drip-action technique) to his untimely death.

In an all-out, risk-everything-and-hold-back-nothing performance, Ed Harris somehow avoids all the potential traps when recounting a story of artistic brilliance infiltrated by agony and angst. He displays all the characteristics associated with the artist, showing not only the traits residing at both ends of the spectrum - supremely gifted yet emotionally tormented - but how those traits intertwine through the fabric of Pollock's personality during various points in his life.

After agreeing to paint a mural for Peggy Guggenheim (Amy Madigan), he spends days staring into the blank canvas, never lifting a brush (much to the dismay of his supportive wife.) Only when he is able to completely free his mind will he begin. While able to express himself beautifully through his art, we also realize that sadly, it is the only way he is able to fully express himself. This is especially true with regards to his family, when violently pounding the dinner table or drinking heavily takes the role of emotional outlet to discussing his feelings.

But Harris doesn't merely play him as a social misfit with creative talent. We learn that much of his behavior was the result of a strong taste for the bottle. When he sobers up during the stretch of time his paintings were becoming noticed, he's actually quite likable and capable of displaying a distinct charm, as he does for a Life Magazine reporter doing a feature article.

Yet his sometimes irresistible charm and undeniable talent were no match for his potent ability to confine those who care for him into a hellish whirlwind of brutal behavior. When his artworks are no longer selling and he has returned to a state of drunkenness, the tormented artist would often unleash a vicious verbal assault against his wife, an act denoting a degree of desperation as well as anger. His emotional demon also reared its ugly head just prior to his death, which entailed an act as despicable as his own demise was tragic. The movie doesn't shy away from those aspects of his life, nor does it make excuses for it.

Giving one of the best performances of the year, Ed Harris dives right into the role, balancing all the traits into a complex performance that doesn't oversimplify the artist or his talent. Jackson Pollock somehow managed to discover his life's destiny as a true master of artistic expression, yet he did so in a somewhat childlike fashion. Perhaps that is the only way to do so; operating from a point of innocence. Harris stunningly captures the sometimes giddy, often times narcissistic nature of a man whose talent could captivate as easily as his self-hating nature could suffocate. Also brilliant is Marcia Gay Harden, playing his long-suffering wife who remains by his side because of her belief in his ability coupled with her cognizance of his need for rigidity in his life, even if that notion isn't realized by Pollock until too late.

The movie's sheer brilliance is epitomized at the conclusion, which at first seems a bit abrupt. But upon further thought, I realized that yes, it should be abrupt. After all, I wasn't watching someone's "take" on the artist known as Jackson Pollock, but a quiet, thoughtful observation of the man himself - complete with all his immense talent and tragic flaws in clear, uncompromised view. The film wisely doesn't feel the need to wrap anything up. That would drain a viewer's ability to draw their own conclusions regarding one of America's most gifted, brilliant, hopeless, desperate, fascinating, unredeeming, and unusual artists.

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