|
 SYNOPSIS:
In August
of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question:
"Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United
States?" The article pictured Pollock in a now-famous pose, wearing
a worn black jacket and blue jeans, his arms crossed defiantly over
his chest and one of his kinetic canvasses stretched out behind
him. Already well-known in the New York art world, he had become
a household name-America's first "Art Star"-and his bold and radical
style of painting continued to change the course of modern art.
But the torments that had plagued the artist all of his life-perhaps
the ones that drove him to paint in the first place, or that helped
script his fiercely original art-continued to haunt him. As he struggled
with self-doubt, engaging in a lonely tug-of-war between needing
to express himself and wanting to shut the world out, Pollock began
a downward spiral that would threaten to destroy the foundations
of his marriage, the promise of his career, and-on one deceptively
calm and balmy summer night in 1956-his life.
"Pollock"
is directed by Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominated actor
Ed Harris, who makes his directorial debut, stars in the title role,
and serves as a producer. The film is a look back into the life
of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called "an
artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew."
 Harris
had been working ideas for "Pollock" over in his mind for nearly
a decade. "During the years I spent reading and thinking and feeling
about Pollock," says Harris, "and I spent time 'painting' and trying
to understand emotionally what it is to be a painter-I had to trust
that something had seeped into my bones that would allow me to portray
Pollock honestly. I had no difficulty in choosing an interpretation
because it all has been very personal and of all that I read and
heard I had to go with what touched my soul and what made sense
to me both intellectually and emotionally."
"I've
never been interested in exploiting Pollock," Harris continues.
"In fact, there were times I would say to myself, 'Why are you making
a movie about this guy? Let him rest in peace. But then I realized
that was only a desire to leave myself in peace. It's tricky, but
I never wanted to pretend to be Pollock. I wanted to be Ed Harris
using all of his tools as an actor and as a person to allow Pollock's
experience on this earth to touch me, inspire me, lead me to an
honest, true performance."
In
portraying Pollock, Harris made a concerted effort to accurately
show Pollock's artistic process, which was utterly revolutionary
and confounded many people at the time. To accomplish this, Harris
began to explore paint and painting techniques in the early 1990's.
"I've been painting and drawing off and on since I became committed
to making this film," says Harris. "I had a little studio built
so I'd have enough floor space to work on larger canvases."
"It's
preposterous to think I could ever paint as he did," Harris continues,
"and yet I had to paint in the film. The most challenging part of
all that was gaining enough confidence to paint for myself in the
style in which he painted... to be committed first to myself as
a painter, to try and keep my focus on creating art and not recreating
someone else's."
Harris
believes that the need for approval motivated much of Pollock's
work. "A desperate need for approval usually forces one into doing
that which is recognizable," says Harris. "To do something similar
to that which has gained approval elsewhere. Pollock's need for
approval bordered on the psychopathic and yet his even deeper need
to create art that had no hint of the lie about it, drove him to
make art that had never been made before and was certainly fair
game for ridicule and abuse. But Pollock's toughest critic was himself
and he knew that only he knew what was pure and true and real as
far as his own work was concerned. He fought fiercely to be true
to himself. He did not separate himself from his art. That aspect
of his being: desperately needing approval and yet only offering
truth to be approved-that drew me to him."
 Acclaimed
actress Marcia Gay Harden ("Meet Joe Black," "Miller's Crossing")
plays Lee Krasner, Pollock's wife, whose efforts at promoting her
husband's career often stymied her own growth as an artist. "When
she was first married, Lee's main concern was pleasing Jackson,"
Harden explains. "She was the kind of woman who hung her hat on
another man's peg to find herself, in spite of how brilliant she
was in her own right." Harden describes the Pollock-Krasner marriage
as "wonderful, fabulous, and hideous." "They fed off each other
in ways that weren't always healthy," she says. "But, if they hadn't
been together, Pollock never would have become world famous and
Lee wouldn't have pushed herself to the artistic limits she did.
As soon as they split apart, one of them was bound to destruct."
Like
Harris, Harden, too, found herself picking up the paintbrush: "I
took painting lessons as a way of exploring where Lee was coming
from. Would how she put paint down on a canvas tell me something
more about her? I also read everything I could. I went to museums.
I met her friends and family. Finally, I studied Pollock."
 On
working with Harris and the cast and crew of "Pollock," Harden adds,
"On everyone's part, there was a real care about the process. Ed
is an amazing director. He was constantly pushing himself and the
rest of us to work harder. And he'd really done his homework-so
much that it was almost embarrassing to me. He had gathered so much
information that the filming process reminded me a little of one
of Pollock's paintings-all these elements layered on top of each
other."
|
|
This
biopic of one of mid-century America's key artists offers wonderful
performance by Ed Harris and Marcia Gay Harden (both of whom were
nominated for Academy Awards).
 Jackson
Pollock was one of the preeminent abstract expressionists. He developed
the method of painting of dripping and pouring paint on the canvas.
(Some referred to him as "Jack the Dripper".) Many people may well
not understand this to be art, but is creations were original and
bold and helped to move painting in new directions.
 Pollock
is seen in this movie as almost a cliché of a self-absorbed, self-destructive
troubled artist. He is manic-depressive and alcoholic, and only
seems to be alive when he is creating or being praised for what
he has created.
 Jackson
Pollock was certainly gifted. (One of the blessings in the film
is to see many of his works and be able to recognize that they aren't
all the same.) To watch Harris portray him at work is a wonderful
experience. But we also see how each of us, even in our giftedness,
 often
brings destruction into our lives.
Pollock
(at least in this depiction of him) was indeed the center of his
own universe. Even those closest to him were really only conveniences.
I don't know if he could have been as creative any other way. But
in time, his universe collapsed around him.
|
