Review of Pollock (2000) by Thomas M — 13 Aug 2010

As an artist I really loved this movie. You really get a sense for who the man was and more important what the art world that created and supported him was like. Before viewing this movie I could appreciate Pollock's work; After viewing it, I realized that he had contemporaries like William De Kooning , patrons like Peggy Guggenheim, that were supporting him intellectually and financially and critics pushing him to eliminate the figurative to achieve complete abstraction. He didn't come to his splatter technique by himself but was rather a part of a greater mechanism that was pushing painting to it's limits.

Also as an artist I really found Harris' performances painting the Pollock works quite stimulating and inspiring. I actually would have liked to to see more.

As a film viewer I really liked the performances by Harris, Harden and gang, especially Harden for her strength and assuredness in her performance.

As far as the story goes, yes Pollock was dysfunctional borderline sick individual, but it was interesting to see how his dream of becoming a successful painter kept him going, and in the end, disillusioned by all the success,it was the reason for his life falling apart. It's also interesting to note that this characteristic is not unique to Pollock as throughout art history there have been many accounts of "great" painters who lived dysfunctional and tragically short lives. Harris did a great job depicting his character in it's many facets and it's evolution from shy recluse, to hard working genius painter, to superstar self destructive drunkard.

In the end it is a solid piece of work by Harris and crew that is worth watching at least once, but that I will be watching again and again.