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Jackson Pollock: Love & Death on Long Island
Home Vision Entertainment // Unrated // February 19, 2002
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
This BBC documentary starts off with the police report about Jackson Pollock's death and then goes back to examine his life through the eyes of many who knew him. With a mere 45 minutes available, it's difficult to examine the entire arc of an artist's career (Ed Harris's film had two hours), but this documentary does at least provide a fairly enjoyable and general overview of the artist.
The question, "was Pollock the greatest living artist?" is explored throughout, with viewpoints from the positive and negative both offered. The documentary mixes up interviews with the artist's friends and those who worked with him with footage of Pollock at work. By the end of 45 minutes, we've been offered some informative tidbits and interesting stories (one in particular about how Pollock was eventually given the boot from his favorite bar after the bar owner had had enough of his temper), but things wrap up all-the-sudden and I can't help but feel as if there's a wealth of analysis that missing. We learn a lot about the fact that Pollock was a sudden celebrity, taking a quick rise from obscurity that he may not have been able to handle, given that he was already apparently unsure of how to classify his own creations and suffered from doubts about his work. All of this is summarized best by "Pollock" director and star Ed Harris, who appears during the second half of the documentary. Where some of the other interviews occasionally ramble, Harris gets right to the point in his analysis of Pollock's life.
Overall, this is a decent documentary, but it feels too condensed at 45 minutes and we don't see or hear enough of Pollock himself, as only a minor amount of footage is shown. The documentary itself feels like something that would be created for inclusion on the DVD for Harris's film rather than something substancial enough to be the only piece on a DVD.
The DVD
VIDEO: The documentary is presented by Home Vision in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The image quality is likely what you would see when it was originally broadcast; the image remains slightly soft throughout, while the older footage with Pollock is understandably worn. While the picture doesn't appear quite crisp, at least no edge enhancement or pixelation appears and colors generally look natural.
SOUND: The stereo soundtrack is no better or worse than the usual documentary audio. Interviews are clearly heard and understood and that's essentially it - there's little more than that.
MENUS: Haunting main menu with clips of Pollock in the background, accompanied by score.
EXTRAS: Supplements could have added further insight about Pollock; unfortunately, Home Vision has apparently not been able to secure any additional features. All we get is an additional fold-out of the cover, which is the size of a small poster.
Final Thoughts: Those who are fans of Pollock's work will likely already know most of the information contained within, but might enjoy the interviews from those who knew Pollock. If available for a low price, interested viewers might want to pick this up. Otherwise, it offers fairly little and I'm unsure of how much repeat-viewing potential this program has.
This BBC documentary starts off with the police report about Jackson Pollock's death and then goes back to examine his life through the eyes of many who knew him. With a mere 45 minutes available, it's difficult to examine the entire arc of an artist's career (Ed Harris's film had two hours), but this documentary does at least provide a fairly enjoyable and general overview of the artist.
The question, "was Pollock the greatest living artist?" is explored throughout, with viewpoints from the positive and negative both offered. The documentary mixes up interviews with the artist's friends and those who worked with him with footage of Pollock at work. By the end of 45 minutes, we've been offered some informative tidbits and interesting stories (one in particular about how Pollock was eventually given the boot from his favorite bar after the bar owner had had enough of his temper), but things wrap up all-the-sudden and I can't help but feel as if there's a wealth of analysis that missing. We learn a lot about the fact that Pollock was a sudden celebrity, taking a quick rise from obscurity that he may not have been able to handle, given that he was already apparently unsure of how to classify his own creations and suffered from doubts about his work. All of this is summarized best by "Pollock" director and star Ed Harris, who appears during the second half of the documentary. Where some of the other interviews occasionally ramble, Harris gets right to the point in his analysis of Pollock's life.
Overall, this is a decent documentary, but it feels too condensed at 45 minutes and we don't see or hear enough of Pollock himself, as only a minor amount of footage is shown. The documentary itself feels like something that would be created for inclusion on the DVD for Harris's film rather than something substancial enough to be the only piece on a DVD.
The DVD
VIDEO: The documentary is presented by Home Vision in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The image quality is likely what you would see when it was originally broadcast; the image remains slightly soft throughout, while the older footage with Pollock is understandably worn. While the picture doesn't appear quite crisp, at least no edge enhancement or pixelation appears and colors generally look natural.
SOUND: The stereo soundtrack is no better or worse than the usual documentary audio. Interviews are clearly heard and understood and that's essentially it - there's little more than that.
MENUS: Haunting main menu with clips of Pollock in the background, accompanied by score.
EXTRAS: Supplements could have added further insight about Pollock; unfortunately, Home Vision has apparently not been able to secure any additional features. All we get is an additional fold-out of the cover, which is the size of a small poster.
Final Thoughts: Those who are fans of Pollock's work will likely already know most of the information contained within, but might enjoy the interviews from those who knew Pollock. If available for a low price, interested viewers might want to pick this up. Otherwise, it offers fairly little and I'm unsure of how much repeat-viewing potential this program has.
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