Pollock (film)

Plot

In the 1940s, abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock exhibits paintings in occasional group art shows.

Pollock lives with his brother Sande and sister-in-law Arloie at a tiny apartment in New York City. With Arloie expecting a new baby, Pollock decides to move out on her behalf. Soon afterward, Pollock meets and takes an interest in artist Lee Krasner. He learns later that his brother has taken a job in Connecticut building military gliders to avoid the draft.

Pollock, a struggling alcoholic, goes on a drinking binge and is found in a disheveled state by Sande and Lee, prompting Sande to tell Lee that Pollock has been diagnosed as "clinically neurotic." Taking pity on Pollock, Lee takes him home and becomes his manager.

One day, Pollock's old friend Reuben Kadish visits him, bringing along Howard Putzel, who works for wealthy art collector Peggy Guggenheim. After Guggenheim views his work, he is given a contract to exhibit his paintings, plus a commission to paint a 8 ft by 20 ft mural in her New York townhouse entry way. Pollock's first exhibit fails to attract any buyers. After a New Year's Eve party, a drunken Pollock almost sleeps with Peggy. Afterwards, he falls into another stupor upon hearing that Putzel has died.

Pollock and Lee are wed after Lee says they either marry or "split up" before moving to Long Island. During a get-together at Peggy's, Pollock dismisses art critic Clement Greenberg's comments and refuses to change his painting style to be more marketable. Pollock's paintings are not selling but Clement assures him it will change after a Life magazine article about him is published and his upcoming exhibit.

Pollock and Lee's relationship is strained after he openly flirts with another woman. Meanwhile, to earn more income, Pollock tries various occupations but fails due to his alcoholism. He lies to Sande about his financial status, though this improves after the Life story about him is published. Later, cinematographer Hans Namuth films Pollock as he paints, though Namuth's presence interrupts the spontaneous nature of his work. Pollock, who tried abstaining from alcohol, inadvertently ruins Thanksgiving dinner upon relapsing.

In medias res to the events of the film, Pollock autographs a copy of the Life magazine to a fan at an art exhibit in 1950. Five years after the exhibit, Clement tells Pollock that the Partisan Review is favoring artist Clyfford Still, saying that his original technique could be the next direction of modern art.

A drunk Pollock reacts badly, becoming angrier when Lee berates him for his drinking and womanizing. By this moment, Pollock's marriage to Lee has become even more strained due to her refusal to conceive children with him, all of which has led Pollock to start an extramarital affair with abstract artist Ruth Kligman.

In 1956, following a conversation with Lee over the phone while she is in Venice, Pollock tells Ruth "I owe the woman something." On a subsequent visit, Ruth brings along her friend Edith before the three go for a drive. An intoxicated Pollock crashes the car, killing himself and Edith, and throwing Ruth into a ditch, seriously injuring her.

A textual epilogue reveals Lee never remarried following Pollock's death.

Cast

• Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock
• Marcia Gay Harden as Lee Krasner
• Tom Bower as Dan Miller
• Jennifer Connelly as Ruth Kligman
• Bud Cort as Howard Putzel
• John Heard as Tony Smith
• Val Kilmer as Willem de Kooning
• Robert Knott as Sande Pollock
• David Leary as Charles Pollock
• Amy Madigan as Peggy Guggenheim
• Sally Murphy as Edith Metzger
• Molly Regan as Arloie Pollock
• Stephanie Seymour as Helen Frankenthaler
• Matthew Sussman as Reuben Kadish
• Jeffrey Tambor as Clement Greenberg
• Sada Thompson as Stella Pollock
• Norbert Weisser as Hans Namuth
• Everett Quinton as James Johnson Sweeney
• Annabelle Gurwitch as May Rosenberg
• John Rothman as Harold Rosenberg
• Kenny Scharf as William Baziotes
• Robert O'Neill as Herbert Matter

Production

The film was adapted by Barbara Turner and Susan Emshwiller from the book Jackson Pollock: An American Saga by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. It was directed by Ed Harris.

This film was a longtime passion project for Harris. After his father gave him a copy of Pollock's biography, he started thinking about adapting it, which took almost 10 years to bring to fruition.

Filming took a mere 50 days with a six-week layoff after forty days so Harris could take time to gain thirty pounds and grow a beard.

Harris himself did all the painting seen in the film.

Reception

Critical response

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars and wrote, "Pollock is confident, insightful work–one of the year's best films. Harris is always a good actor but here seems possessed, as if he had a leap of empathy for Pollock. His direction is assured, economical, knows where it's going and what it wants to do. No fancy visual gimmicks, just the look and feel of this world."

Box office

Pollock opened on December 15, 2000 in the US and Canada in a limited release in 2 theaters and grossed $44,244 with an average of $22,122 per theater and ranking #37 at the box office. The film's widest release was 280 theaters and it ended up earning $8,598,593 domestically and $1,960,377 internationally for a total of $10,558,970.

Accolades

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Pollock was released on February 13, 2001.

References

References

1. "Pollock (2000)".
2. . ["Pollock"](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pollock.htm). *[[Box Office Mojo]]*.
3. "Pollock".
4. [https://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/actor_ed_harris.html Interview with Ed Harris] at DVDtalk
5. "Pollock".
6. "Pollock".
7. Ebert, Roger. (16 February 2001). "Pollock".
8. (5 October 2014). "The 73rd Academy Awards (2001) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
9. "36 Years of Nominees and Winners".
10. (19 December 2009). "Past Awards".
11. "2000 New York Film Critics Circle Awards".
12. "5th Annual Film Awards (2000)".
13. "International Press Academy website – 2001 5th Annual SATELLITE Awards".
14. "TFCA Awards 2001". torontofilmcritics.com.
15. "World Soundtrack Awards". [[World Soundtrack Awards]].
16. [https://www.allmusic.com/album/pollock-original-soundtrack-mw0000624996 Pollock Soundtrack] TheOST. Retrieved February 1, 2014