pollock starring ed harris , marcia gay harden , tom bower , jennifer connelly screenplay by barbara turner and susan j .
emshwiller , based on the book " jackson pollock : an american saga " by steven naifeh and gregory white smith directed by ed harris
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" how do you know when you 're finished making love ?
"
-jackson pollock to a life magazine reporter on recognizing when you 've completed a painting jackson pollock 's " making love
" quote is famous , but in practically the same breath , he said a more constructive thing , " it 's like looking at a bed of flowers -- tear your hair out over what it means .
"
it took him sixteen words to do as whole dissertations have tried and failed : equate god and abstract art and offer a kind of backhanded comfort to those confused to the point of resentment by the concept .
the biopic _ pollock _ , actor ed harris ' directorial debut
, reflects the second soundbite in how it accepts pollock 's creations as part of the order of things , and should similarly disarm haters of fine art .
arguably more than any other living actor , harris , who also plays _ pollock _ , embodies the archetypal working stiff , and his blue - collar demystification of pollock 's labour - intensive art , both as performer and director , makes for unpretentious cinema .
( from what i know of harris , he , like pollock , was not born gifted or lucky ; instead , a strong work ethic is the seed of his success . )
granted , it 's possible that _ pollock _ will alienate those same viewers perplexed by the imponderable " purpose " of pollock 's splatter series : the common thread between them is a lack of editorializing .
the movie _ pollock
_ is all purposeful gazes and silent exchanges dotted by tantrums , but the motivations are left to our own perceptions .
and it is a sympathetic yet not altogether forgiving film , as illustrated by a disheartening conclusion .
_ pollock
_ encapsulates the period in which he fought a losing battle against personal demons ( alcoholism , depression , and the general attendant miseries of an artist ) while finding a place of subconscious expression .
a brief introduction to pollock 's raging drunk side segues into his getting accosted by a fellow new york artist , lee krasner ( marcia gay harden ,
awarded a best supporting actress oscar for this brilliant portrayal ) , who works from the outside - in , pre - intellectualizing every stroke of her brush .
in a scene after they have moved in together and established adjoining studios , she asks what he hopes to achieve on his latest canvas , grilling him about the interplay of cubism and surrealism until he says , " you paint the fucking thing , " and leaves in a huff .
by the time they we d , she has become his de facto manager ; it is form marrying function and chaos marrying discipline , a most harmonious collision .
( krasner denies him a baby , indicating that it would upset the balance . )
such a union is destined to implode , and i hope i 'm not ruining the _ pollock _ experience by saying that it does .
while it is never depicted as a very romantic matrimony to start -- pollock and wife channel their passions elsewhere -- their symbiosis leaves each other picked dry after several years , and it comes down to krasner suffering one of pollock 's conniptions too many : " you are killing me !
you are killing me !
you are killing me ! "
( aside : harris ' own wife , amy madigan , is unrecognizable and exceptional as gallery diva peggy guggenheim . )
pollock himself moves on to dalliances with younger women like ruth klingman ( the scorching jennifer connelly ) , hoping , one supposes , to catch the revitalizing whiff of youth .
i love jackson pollock 's stuff and
i am enamoured of harris ' _ pollock _ as well .
it 's scrappy and observant ; no coincidence that its minor failings are the occasional invasive flourish , such as jeff beal 's hummable but no less lamentable score -- i ca n't imagine that pollock , or anyone , would paint to this music , which puts filling soundtrack voids ahead of complementing the images .
one of my favourite sequences is an eerily quiet re - enactment of hans namuth shooting that famous pollock footage in east hampton , long island ; the mounting tension is almost comic , as namuth keeps interrupting pollock 's process to reload his camera or take a dinner break .
a more seasoned director might 've been too arrogant to admit that not all artists or mediums are created equal .
awarded a best supporting actress oscar for this brilliant portrayal i am enamoured of harris ' _ pollock _ as well one of my favourite sequences