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Pollock
Sony Pictures Classics


8.3

based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 16 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Appaloosa

MPAA RATING: R for language and brief sexuality

Starring Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Amy Madigan, Jennifer Connelly, Jeffrey Tambor, Bud Cort, John Heard, and Val Kilmer

A look back into the life of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called "an artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew." (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Barbara Turner Susan Emshwiller Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (book Jackson Pollock: An American Saga)
DIRECTED BY:	Ed Harris
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 24, 2001 Video: July 24, 2001 Theatrical: December 15, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	119 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Marcia Gay Harden received an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress at the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001. Ed Harris was also nominated for Best Actor.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Pollock is confident, insightful work--one of the year's best films.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Harris genuinely seems to be at one with the character, and his movie is eerily alive.

Time Richard Schickel

The result is a harrowing film, impossible to "like" in any conventional way, hypnotically impossible to turn away from.

Film.com Peter Brunette

Irrespective of whether Pollock, as a movie, is any good -- and it is very, very good -- it's clear that Ed Harris was born to play the lead role.

Variety David Rooney

Distinguished by its quiet, intelligent, admirably restrained approach and by two finely wrought performances from Harris and Marcia Gay Harden in the leading roles.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

What Harris extracts from himself is nothing less than a psychological nude scene, sustained across two hours.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Pollock is that rare breed, a biopic that makes you want to learn more about its subject, as much as you can, as fast as you can.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Like its subject, Pollock is a messy creation, but one whose depth of commitment and high attack keeps it on track.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Harris convincingly creates one "Pollock" after another over the course of the movie.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Harris and Harden have real on-screen sympatico, in their nasty battles and good times alike.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The resulting film is a labor of love with all the strengths and weaknesses you might expect from such a designation.

Film.com Robert Horton

Like other aspects of this film, the image may be a little too perfect, a little too careful.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Stands out among creative bio-pics for an ability to show art being made in a way that's as realistic and exciting as it's ever been on screen.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

May be the first movie about a painter to transcend the gushy clichés found in movies that try to unravel the mysteries of artistic creation.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Ed Harris, who plays Pollock and makes his debut as a director - doing both jobs superbly, by the way - is angst incarnate.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

As good as Harris is, though, it's Harden's performance that sticks with you long after you've seen the movie. She understands what Krasner must have known intuitively. Greatness comes not from cleaning up messes, but from allowing them to be made in the first place.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The movie's best moments evoke the thrill of doing something new. Pollock convincingly retails the beauty and originality of the painter's best work -- it may not be an intellectual adventure, but it does represent one.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

For all the praise that has been heaped upon it, is a quasisatisfying, half realized vision.

San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris

Renders the juicy bits of the artist's life in two hours of pulsing highlights that suggest a man who never really had any emotional or psychic downtime.

Miami Herald Elisa Turner

Some of the most riveting passages of the film are Harris slathering skeins of rich color, dipped fresh from cans of house paint, onto canvases stretched out on the floor.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie is enriched by its fine acting and by its creative respect for an innovator whose influence still permeates contemporary art.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It is a difficult and demanding movie, one that rewards the persevering moviegoer just as Pollock's difficult and demanding paintings ultimately reward the steadfast.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Masterful acting.

Newsweek Jeff Giles

Pollock can be clunky and TV-movie-ish. Still, Harris gives a fiery, convincing performance.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Several startling depictions of the artist at work make you forget, if only temporarily, the serious shortcomings of the script.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Truth is, one can probably tell as much about Jackson Pollock the man by looking at his paintings than by watching this movie.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

The dilemma is simple: Living, making art, and then dying does not constitute much of a story.

USA Today Mike Clark

The movie falls short of achieving its apparent goal: being the "Raging Bull" of the art world.

Slate David Edelstein

I don't know what Pollock is supposed to be about, but as it stands—by default—it's the most blood-freezing Jewish-mother nightmare ever filmed. Pollock would give Woody Allen the willies.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

A reasonably entertaining -- and occasionally very moving -- picture.

TV Guide Ken Fox

A smart but disappointingly conventional portrait of an artist who had little use for convention.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 16 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jim F. gave it a 7:
Great movie, just a bit relentless in the portrayal of Pollock. Need some breaks here and there.

Robert H. gave it an 8:
I liked this film but don't believe that it avoided the cliches as much as several reviewers did.

Curt M. gave it a 7:
What Pollock portrays very convincingly is a marriage of artists. Every scene with Harris and Harden is right on the money. As for the painting scenes, they're about as good as you're going to get. What's harder to capture on the screen than the creative process? Ed Harris has never been better, and Marcia Gay Harden would win the Oscar if enough voters saw this movie.

Michael F. gave it a 9:
This is a great film. From beginning to end it never really slows. Ed Harris is unbelievable as an actor and director! Harden completely deserved that Oscar! A must-see!

Ted B. gave it an 8:
This movie succeeds at everything it tries to do. It is well written, superbly shot, well acted and from all that I have read on Pollock, pretty well right on. The painting scenes alone are worth renting this one. The acting and story make it a must rent.

Ned D. gave it a 6:
First-rate performances by Harris and Harden can't quite redeem the 'been there-done that' routine familiarity of the material.

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Pollock Sony Pictures Classics

Pollock
Sony Pictures Classics