Pollock - An Overview of the Biopic essays

Pollock - An Overview of the Biopic essays For my film, I chose to cover the biopic, "Pollock", starring Ed Harris. The film covers the complex life of one of America's most abstract painters, Jackson Pollock. The film's lead, Ed Harris, was a fantastic choice for the role. A little-known fact, "Ed Harris's father bought his son a book about Jackson Pollock simply because he felt Ed bore a strong resemblance to the painter. Ever since then, Ed Harris became fascinated with Pollock's life." (IMDB, 2000) This allowed him to portray the role in a very personal, well-informed way. Because of this, the film truly allowed me to gaze into the artist's life and gain a deeper appreciation for the external elements that affected the art created by such a renowned artist. The film literally walks us through what Jackson Pollock experienced during his career and short life. It starts at the climax of his career with the artist signing Life magazines that he was featured on. It then quickly flashes back to the beginning, the struggles he faced, and the difficulty he had getting his art showcased. You can see the frustration portrayed, and you can sense that he's almost ready to give up. He's living with his brother Sande in a small apartment, when Lee Krasner decides to intervene. She brings Jackson home with her and becomes his manager. Throughout everything, alcohol is constantly getting in the way and causing heartache for everyone in his life. He gets a fairly big deal from Peggy Guggenheim, who he almost sleeps with and that leads to some moderate success. He marries Lee and focuses on his career, the alcohol still getting in the way of any sort of peace. Life magazine does a feature story on him and things get better. He backs off of alcohol te mporarily and that creates a better mood and relative peace. The peace didn't last for long and after a photographer attempting to make a movie on Jackson triggers his drinking, things spiral downwards. He lets it get out of hand and blo...