Pollock

TabouliJones

November 1, 2001

Return

Ed Harris was excellent as the lead and the recreations of Pollock doing his thing above the canvas were great to watch. But, the movie lacked dramatic oomph. Poor artist, tortured-alcoholic artist, on the wagon artist, off the wagon artist, then death -- BORING! And already done to death. Plus, so much of the dialogue was wooden and distracting. Like, Krasner (played by Harden) musing before Pollock's early work: "It's not really cubism because your not breaking down the plane and its not really BLAH BLAH". Who needs a half-assed art lecture in a movie. Surely there was a better way to convey Pollock's early position within the art world. And the movie just plodded along with such clunky moments like that, one after another until Pollock dies in an ineptly staged car crash. Dissapointing given all the hype around the movie and Harris' apparent obsession with getting it made.

For me, the movie did pique some interest in Krasner's work -- who I hadn't heard of before.