Descending Ashtray

When I am feeling unmotivated, uninspired, or otherwise un-likely to make art, one sure-fire way I’ve found to get going again is to watch an energizing film about another artist. I’ve picked my five favorites below. Have I missed your favorite? Leave a comment below.

1. Pollock, 2000

Ed Harris’ resemblance to Jackson Pollock is uncanny in terms of his physical appearance, but it’s more startling in the way he moves. Jackson Pollock was filmed while painting several times during his short life, and Harris’ movements are eerily similar to Pollock’s. Perhaps the resemblance is due to the 10 years Harris spent preparing for the role. I believe he deserved the Oscar he was nominated for, but the Academy did not agree.

The story, based on Steven Naifeh’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book (also great, if the Pulitzer wasn’t evidence enough for you), is wonderful, beginning with a flash-forward to his eventual success, then quickly retreating to his origins as a struggling painter. The film version leaves out his early years as a boy in Wyoming, as well as his time studying with Thomas Hart Benton, whose work he emulates, then rejects. Instead, the chronological story begins when Pollock encounters Lee Krasner, whom he calls “a damn fine woman painter.” She will become his colleague, his wife, his mother, and eventually, the author and caretaker of his legacy. The film spends a lot of time on the Krasner-Pollock relationship, but not to a fault (as in Surviving Picasso). Rather, it uses their conflict and resolutions as a narrative device, marking each new chapter in their lives as a new chapter in Pollock’s painting career.

Marcia Gay Harden does an amazing job as Lee Krasner, a performance which won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Her accent in character is inimitable, and the performance is amazing. There’s a great scene when Pollock visits her studio shortly after they meet. She asks Pollock if he’d like some coffee, and when he replies in the affirmative, she puts on her coat. “Well, you don’t think I’m going to make it myself?” she asks as they head across the street to a diner.

The one problem I have with the film is one that will appear in several others below – “The Ah-Ha! Moment,” I’ll call it. Pollock and Krasner have retreated to the countryside and Jackson is an a period of intense productivity, painting larger and larger canvases, until they no longer fit on an easel. So, he paints on the floor. In a moment of creative contemplation, he crouches, holding a brush full with paint. As the camera zooms in, the brush drips onto the floor. And … “Ah ha!” Jackson Pollock begins his drip paintings. Now, maybe it did happen that way. And maybe it didn’t. But in my personal experience, the creative process is so elusive, so magical, that to condense it into one shot … I think this film trivializes it.

Otherwise, excellent film. See it immediately if you haven’t yet.

2. Frida, 2002

If you haven’t seen this film yet, you are obviously not a fan of the stunning Selma Hayek (who won Best Actress for this performance), Alfred Molina, Ashley Judd, Antonio Banderas, Edward Norton, or Geoffrey Rush. A truly star-studded cast, this film is also a brilliant portrayal of this intriguingly intimate artist, and is a very close second in my list. This film also uses the artist’s relationships as a narrative device, but is perhaps more effective since Frida Kahlo’s personal life is so apparent in her artwork. The amazing art direction helps, too, seamlessly blending live action with her actual paintings to great effect. The Academy agreed, giving Felipe Fernandez del Paso Plus the Oscar for Art Direction.

3. Basquiat, 1996

David Bowie as Andy Warhol just might be the best casting ever. I’m not a huge Bowie fan, but his portrayal of Warhol is just genius, one of those great movie moments where you cease to see the actor, and just absorb the character as truth. Jeffrey Wright also plays a fantastic Jean-Michel Basquiat, the middle-class boy who ventured to the streets of Manhattan in search of truth, found heroin, and left the streets as an internationally-renowned “primitive” artist, bringing with him an unbelievable drug addiction (30 grams a day?!?!?!?). In addition to the great casting and compelling story, the film has a singularly great soundtrack, opening with The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”, and ending with “Hallelujah,” performed by John Cale.

4. Vincent and Theo, 1990

Starring a very young Tim Roth as the more famous of the brothers Van Gogh, this film begins with Vincent deciding to be an artist while in Holland. As you can probably guess, his early works prove uncommercial, and his younger brother Theo offers him financial support. It is to become a pattern. As the film progresses, Theo becomes more successful, marrying, opening his own gallery, but his brother’s stalled painting career holds him ever back. Of course, Van Gogh’s paintings would eventually be some of the most valuable and iconic paintings in the world, an irony that is not lost on Robert Altman, who opens the film with a clip from a Christie’s auction in which Sunflowers sells for £15M. Pay attention, and you’ll notice that the film’s color palette keeps time with the palette of Van Gogh’s evolving work: dark and dreary in Belgium, bright and shiny in Provence, producing probably the most successful depiction of an artist’s development of any film I’ve seen.

5. The Agony and The Ecstasy, 1965

I struggled in reviewing this film, because I’m just not used to watching films of this era. It’s hard not to admire Charlton Heston playing the role of Michaelangelo as he attempts his monumental work on the Sistine Chapel. Despite the slow pace of the film, his portrayal is strong without being over-bearing, and his character is flawed in a way that’s easy to relate to. His doubts are my doubts. His triumphs mine. Through it all, though, the artistic vision remains, and eventually triumphs in a very inspiring way. It was also educational; I didn’t know much about Michaelangelo before watching this, particularly not the fact that Michaelangelo thought of himself as a sculptor first, not the master painter he would become known as.

Other Movies I Considered:

New York Stories, 1989.

I disqualified because the film does not portray a real artist, but it is definitely one of my favorites. There is a certain appeal to being the kind of brusque “man’s man” artist that Nick Nolte portrays in this short film (New York Stories is a collection of three films about New York, this one directed by Martin Scorcese), especially given his enormously enviable studio, complete with basketball court, tons of space, split level loft. His palette is the lid of a trash can, for god’s sake. That said, his personal skills, particularly as they apply to female relationships (what the film is really about) are atrocious, and the 1980s permeate every brushstroke of his work. Go ahead and skip the other two shorts included with this film (by Francis/Sofia Coppola and Woody Allen).

A complete aside: watching this again made me really miss the days of cassette tapes. Each Dylan tape he slams into his boombox is covered with paint – you could really abuse those things, unlike the scratch-prone CD format. Something about that physical connection to the music really appeals to me …

Surviving Picasso, 1996
Starring Anthony Hopkins as late-life Picasso, this movie bucks the “artist movie” mold, concentrating more on the man, and less on his artistic development. We see some aspects of his artistic life (rummaging through a junkyard for sculptural parts, bargaining with dealers) but it reveals more of his tantrums, outbursts and controlling nature. The narrator is Francoise Gilot, played by Natascha McElhone, mother of Paloma and Claude Picasso, and the only one of Picasso’s many lovers to move on with her life after a relationship with the artist. Hence the title, “Surviving Picasso.” The film does not make me like Picasso any better, nor am I particularly enlightened about his work having seen it, but because it escapes the traditional cliches and it paints a picture of Picasso the man, it’s worth seeing once, perhaps supplemented by a documentary more enlightening of his work.

I Shot Andy Warhol, 1996
I disqualified this one because it was not really about Andy Warhol, but more about Valerie Solanas, who shot him in 1968. Solanas is a very interesting person, and Lili Taylor does a nice job with a difficult role. Still, I thought the film itself was a little deranged, with very abrubt transitions and inconsistent pacing, and not in a terribly intentional way.

Edvard Munch, 1974
This pseudo-documentary attempts to tell the story of Edvard Munch through the lens of modern day filmmaking, transported intact back in time to the late 19th century. Weird, huh? You don’t know the half of it. Originally aired as a television series, I found the film overly focused on Munch’s love life (or lack thereof), with very little attention on his art-making. Well, maybe the end of it had more about the art; I don’t know. I couldn’t finish it. Did I mention it’s 3 hours long?

Editor’s Note: I had originally envisioned this post as a “Top 10″ list of movies about artists, but found myself having a difficult time comparing my favorite documentaries to my favorite dramas. I’ll leave the documentaries for another time.