"Picasso is sh**," bellowed Jackson Pollock in a pugnacious, drunken state early in the movie "Pollock." Indeed, when Pollock was a struggling but ambitious painter in the 1940's, the long-time king of the fine arts was Pablo Picasso.
"Pollock" takes viewers to Manhattan during WWII to observe the boozy struggle of this very Picasso-like painter, and his partner, the painter Lee Krasner. Pollock has the good fortune to be discovered by the collector Peggy Guggenheim and the NY Times art critic, Clement Greenberg.
Pollock experiences a couple of breakthroughs. One is to paint a non-figurative, repeating pattern in a mural for Guggenheim. he thereby becomes part of the New York-based revolution in modern art called abstract expressionism.
When he and Krassner move to a house in the country on Long Island, he lands upon a new technique: he begins his drip paintings. These astounding canvasses, also called action paintings, bring him to a pinnacle of fame. In 1949 Life magazine anointed him as the "best living American painter."
Pollock's emotional imbalances and alcoholism return to dog him as he experiences the pressure of fame. His peak of notoriety came in 1956 when Time magazine called him "Jack the dripper." 1956 is also the year in which he ended his life in a drunken car crash. His crash also killed a passenger.
The movie "Pollock" shows viewers a tormented, Picasso-like man who can be charming and entrancing. In one scene he almost dances as he produces a drip painting. In his alcoholic phases he is often a monster.
"Pollock," an award-winning movie, is probably best recommended to those who love art and history. R - language and brief sexual performance.
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