Customer Reviews

Artists of the 20th Century: Jackson Pollock

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's rather ironic that such a great painter is covered by such an amateurish film. The narration sounds like it's being read from a textbook. More often than not, it does not even seem to correlate with the painting being shown. It does not help that there is no on-screen text identifying the paintings, let alone dates or medium. The music seems haphazard, ending abruptly, mid-phrase, at the end of the film.

The only positive of this film -- the reason I would not give this film a 1-star rating -- is that the images of the paintings are very rich. In fact, all you see are the paintings.

Not knowing anything about the filmmaker, my impression is that this is a film made by an art historian so deep into the subject matter that he does not know when he's being rather obscure in his references. My (unfair) hunch is that he made this himself on his desktop computer.

Overall, the film left me confused and amused. Next time I watch it, I will put on the radio or a CD, play some nice music, and just watch the DVD without sound.

This documentary presents hundreds of works by the artist. It is a narrated slide show. The commentary is very detailed, competent, and comprehensive. It includes extensive biography mixed with a very professional painting analysis including influence of other artists with examples of their works. The quality of video and sound is good. It has 11 chapters:
CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: Summer at Martha's Vineyard
Chapter 2: The Early Thirties
Chapter 3: Indian Mask
Chapter 4: Distorted Effect
Chapter 5: Exhibition
Chapter 6 Indian Themes
Chapter 7: Sketches
Chapter 8: Textural Works
Chapter 9: Fifth One-Man Show
Chapter 10: Collages
Chapter 11: Easter and the Totem