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Rating: 4 out of 5
I don’t know much about painting. I went to the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay and was blown away by all the art and paintings. Did this pique my interest in learning more about art? Nope, not at all, but I was fascinated and excited to see many famous paintings by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, and many others.
Have you ever heard of the painter Jackson Pollock? If you are like me and don’t roll in the painting world, you would say, “Who the hell is Jackson Pollock?” I don’t know the personal lives of the other painters, but Jackson Pollock was a hard-drinking man. This was the first film I watched during the weekend where the main character was an alcoholic and let the disease rule over them and destroy their life.
Thanks to Wikipedia, here is a quick overview of the likes of Pollock. He was a major artist in the abstract expressionist movement. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds interesting, and maybe I should check it out. He is known for the drip technique, or just pouring and splashing paint all over a canvas. Homeboy had major issues with alcohol, affairs, and personality, which led to him and his loyal ass wife of fighting and his ultimate death.
Pollock is a biographical film centered on the turbulent life of painter Jackson Pollock. Directed and starring Ed Harris as the title character, it goes deep into the struggles of the famous painter from alcoholism and his troubled marriage to his wife. Shit gets real for this painter, and it is a sad descent. Pollock’s (Harris) life is a straight-up shit show. He lives with his brother Sande and sister-in-law Arloie in a tiny ass apartment in New York City. When the couple is about to have a baby, Pollock dips out and meets artist Lee Krasner (Harden). Pollock STRUGGLES with alcohol. Dude will go on drinking binges like he is in the club and there is no closing time. When he gets off one of his drinking binges dude looks like shit and hasn’t slept for days. Lee gets some advice from Sande, who tells her that Pollock has some mental issues. Lee decides to become Pollock’s manager and start a relationship with him.
You would think that Lee can handle Pollock, but those vodka, gin, whisky, and other alcoholic demons really take hold of him. That is what this whole film is about. You think Pollock has a handle on his alcohol, and then he goes off the deep end. It was a repeated pattern, and you could see the ending of this film before it happened. When his homeboy Reuben comes by and looks at his paintings, he is in awe. He works for wealthy art collector Peggy Guggenheim and is excited for Peggy to look at it. What does Pollock do? He gets white boy WASTED and shows up late to the meeting. Peggy is pissed because she doesn’t wait for anyone or walk up any stairs. Pollock’s alcoholism is a constant rollercoaster as the pair even move from the city to the country, and he gets odd jobs to pay for alcohol, even crashing a bike full of beer.
With alcohol, the film also shows the affairs that Pollock has, and he isn’t shy about putting them out there. Dude seemed to have no shame about what he was doing. After partying hard on New Year’s Eve, he tries to sleep with Peggy but gets a limp dick. This doesn’t stop him. One day, during a night at home with friends, he is feeling all over a girl in front of Lee. Lee gets pissed and berates him, and they have an epic argument. When Lee refuses to have kids because she knows they would grow up in a toxic environment, Pollock starts an affair with Ruth Kligman. You don’t know why Lee won’t just drop Pollock’s ass.
Out of this film, the art is number 3 on the list, but let’s put it at #2. We get many scenes of Pollock making art. The only thing is that they don’t really sell. He seems to be one of the best at his style, but something seems off. When people question his art, he blows up and loses his mind. Clement Greenberg is his biggest instigator in his work, and every conversation they have, he ends up in the bottle. It is sad to see because the dude is talented, but he lets people get to him. When he does a Life magazine article, it helps his fortunes. This is short lived until he does some picture. The most telling scene is when he is with his family, and he is talking about some article in Italian. They straight up give zero care about it. This seems to crush Pollock.
I want to commend the performances of Ed Harris and Marcia Gay Harden. First, Harris was excellent as Jackson Pollock. He seemed to go all out in showing how the dude was an alcoholic and all over the place. In the scene where he was pounding on the table at dinner, I literally thought the dude was crazy. Harris showed that Pollock had a lot of issues and, towards the end, had no hope.
I want to give major praise to Marcia Gay Harden as Lee Krasner. She seemed so calm throughout the film, and you can see that she cared for Pollock. She moved to the country with him and really put up with his shit. Harden showed the toll it took on Lee. The scene where Lee blew up was telling. She knew things were over and really didn’t want to stay anymore. Bravo, Marcia Gay Harden.
Pollock is a film about an artist with great talent whose alcohol demons have a strong hold on him. This film is propelled by the performances of Harris and Harden, who both brought their A-game to it. This film should be watched for reasons why you should stay away from alcohol.
