Pollock (2000)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 107
Fresh: 87 | Rotten: 20
Though Pollock does not really allow audiences a glimpse of the painter as a person, it does powerfully depict the creative process. Harris throws himself into the role and turns in a compelling performance.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 32
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 6
Though Pollock does not really allow audiences a glimpse of the painter as a person, it does powerfully depict the creative process. Harris throws himself into the role and turns in a compelling performance.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 11,595
Movie Info
Artist Jackson Pollock revolutionized American painting in the 1940's with his exciting abstract canvases that used dripped and splattered paint in a manner at once excitingly physical and structurally intelligent. While Pollock became a heroic figure in the art world, his private life was nothing to envy, and this biography looks at both his professional triumphs and personal tragedies. In 1941, Pollock (Ed Harris) was a bitter and struggling painter when he met Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden),
Cast
-
Ed Harris
Jackson Pollock -
Marcia Gay Harden
Lee Krasner -
Amy Madigan
Peggy Guggenheim -
Jennifer Connelly
Ruth Kligman -
Jeffrey Tambor
Clement Greenberg -
Bud Cort
Howard Putzel -
John Heard
Tony Smith -
Val Kilmer
William DeKooning -
Barbara Garrick
Betty Parsons
ADVERTISEMENT
Pollock Trailer & Photos
All Critics (120) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (87) | Rotten (20) | DVD (16)
Harris as an actor does justice to his long-term passion to play Pollock.
Top CriticThat altogether rare movie about an artist that works because it takes the art itself for granted.
A brilliant acting exercise for its incredible cast.
Just -- yes, just -- one more film about that perennially obdurate subject, an artist.
A difficult and demanding movie, one that rewards the persevering moviegoer just as Pollock's difficult and demanding paintings ultimately reward the steadfast.
a plodding glimpse of the latter part of Jackson Pollock's life
Wonderful movie, but for adults and older teens.
In the same way a tap dancer innately understands the percolating syncopation of all jazz music, Ed Harris identifies character rhythms and physical possibilities in drama.
Many films about artists indulge opportunities to depict people behaving recklessly. Harris seems more interested in showing us the nature of creativity.
Not a review, but an Interview with Ed Harris, who discusses Pollock among other roles.
Passion can easily lead to self-indulgence, and that is certainly the unfortunate case here.
You can decide for yourself if Pollock was a great artist. He wasn't such a great man, but at least he got a pretty good movie.
More than a straightforward biography charting Jackson Pollock's rise to prominence, Ed Harris' film is a penetrating study of the work ethic as it applied to one of America's great post-war painters.
Harris has created an enduring portrait of this man, self-destructive, violent and difficult, who changed the face of American abstract expressionism.
If ever there were an artist to prove that the art is bigger than the artist, it was Jackson Pollock. Like him, this film embraces pain and chaos and self-loathing and returns beauty.
It tracks a mythology of creativity which runs from Caravaggio to Patti Smith, and is running still, unended.
...can't ever seem to find its way out of Denis Leary's all-purpose tortured artist biopic template: 'I'm drunk, I'm nobody. I'm drunk, I'm famous. I'm drunk, I'm dead.'
Harris spent most of the past 10 years trying to bring Pollock's story to the screen, and his passion is evident in nearly every scene of the film.
Harden deserves recognition more than her co-stars, if only because she creates the sole sympathetic character.
Only seems straightforward because the complexity of its relationships and intelligence of its details have been handled with such ease.
Most of Pollock, save for the last act, feels refreshingly different from most other bio-pics. Outstanding.
The honesty and integrity that have always distinguished Harris' acting are reflected in every element of this extraordinary film.
A highly personal, rigorous, and thoughtful analysis of a truly troubled genius.
That rare breed, a biopic that makes you want to learn more about its subject, as much as you can, as fast as you can.
Audience Reviews for Pollock
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
-
- Jackson Pollock: I'm not the fool, you're the fool.
Discussion Forum
What's Hot On RT
New Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Naomi Watts is Princess Di
The Hangover 3, The Purge, and More
Trailer for a squirrely heist flick
See what's on TV tonight
Latest News on Pollock
Fresh Links
Featured
Halloween Movies For Wimps
Scary movies too scary for you? Here are some alternatives for October 31st.
10 Best Superhero TV Shows
HitFix combs through TV history to compile a superpowered list.
Ridiculous Movie Mistakes
RollingStone proves even the best movies miss a details here and there.
Deadly Movie Kids
Moviefone lists 11 Movie Kids Who Could Kick Our Asses.
50 States, 50 Movies
For July 4th, TimeOut has compiled 50 state-specific movie choices.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Primetime Preview: Supernatural, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and More 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Hangover Part III, The Purge, and More 11
- Primetime Preview: Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow and More 0
- NYFF: Joaquin Phoenix and James Gray talk The Immigrant 2
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Gravity Stuns with Record $55M Launch 80
- Primetime Preview: Witches of East End, Once Upon a Time and More 4
- Weekly Ketchup: Disney Plans Live Action Cruella de Vil Movie 37
Top Headlines
-
Fox Animated Series, ABC Comedies Tumble in Sunday Ratings
0
-
Bong Joon-ho Reportedly "Furious" About Snowpiercer Cuts
0
-
Record-Setting Number of Films Competing in Foreign-Language Oscar Race
0
-
Woody Allen Cancels Blue Jasmine's India Premiere
1
-
Lionsgate Wants Gary Ross and Jennifer Lawrence's Burial Rites
1
-
ABC Plans Kevin Hart-Inspired Series
0
-
The Shining's Danny Torrance Is All Grown Up
1
What we get is a semi-standard biopic about renowned American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock who revolutionized the art world in the 1940s, but was undone by his crippling mood swings, temperament, and penchant for booze...and ladies to a lesser extent.
Harris is really good and quite compelling in the title role, and there's a sense of legitimacy to the scenes where he is seen painting, especially since Harris learned to paint. He's backed by a solid supporting cast including Marcia Gay Harden in an Oscar winning turn as Pollock's wife and fellow artist Lee Krasner. She pretty much walks away with the film. There's also Amy Madigan as Peggy Guggenheim, Val Kilmer as artist and friend Willem de Kooning, and a late in the game appearance by Jennifer Connelly as Pollock's mistress Ruth Kligman.
The film is pretty good, but, like a lot of biopics, suffers from the fact that the subject isn't quite as fascinating as the work they make. Don't get me wrong, Pollock was a very fascinating individual, but the film really doesn't try to deeply probe into his mind, instead just barely getting under the surface a lot of the time. That's okay though, because it is somewhat enjoyable to see him freak out, get drunk, and be a tormented genius.
The scenes where he's painting are well done ,and quite evocative, and I dug the music too. I also enjoyed how they tried to bring about authenticity by actually filming on the real Pollock/Krasner estate.
The film is fairly by the numbers, but it does a good job at detailing the life and times of this lauded/troubled man. For a directorial debut, it's rather ambitious. Despite its faults, I still liked it, and think you should check it out.