Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Sketches of Pollack


Sydney Pollack had the ability to make big movies with stars that connected with people and became components of our pop culture. And ultimately, in the public eye, he will be known as the director of The Way We Were, Out of Africa and Tootsie. My personal favorites of his big Hollywood work are Absence of Malice, Three Days of the Condor, The Firm, and The Interpreter. But there are two other aspects of Pollack that have me filling this space with my impressions.

One is his curiosity and enthusiasm. Sketches of Gehry has a wonderful hand made quality to it. The genius of Frank Gehry is enough to carry a documentary study. But the personal perspective from Pollack as ebullient interlocutor using the film to find out about the great artist/architect's motivations and vision gives it a life that sets it a part from other nonfiction films about biographical subjects. It has been almost two years but the image of Pollock holding on to his Sony DV cam following Gehry through his studio is the one I most recall.

And I remember his presentation in 1998 at the MacWorld Expo as one of the Apple Masters, a program where Apple supplied technology to leaders in the arts and sciences and brought them on stage to talk about the role of technology in their lives. Pollock was most enthusiastic about his Powerbook. Being able to watch DVDs on a computer was pretty nascent stuff ten years ago and he was very excited about the possibilities of doing this as a study tool. I believe he gave acknowledgement to Final Cut Pro as well, but it was being able to watch a movie on a plane that most excited him. I remember feeling a bit envious that I didn' t have a Powerbook to be able to engage in that activity. I think this was maybe the first time that I was really impressed by Pollack's personality, not his work.

And it is his personality as a kind of uncle or friend in the family that impressed me with another highly visible aspect of Pollack in recent years--the naturalistic almost non-acting actor. Part of me silently applauded when he came on the screen in Michael Clayton or as the murdering oncologist/hospital prison orderly in an episode of the Sopranos. When and if there would be a time to view Eyes Wide Shut Again, it would be as much for Pollack's performance as it would be for Kubrick's vision.

Pollack studied acting in 1950s New York and went on to do some television acting and more notably TV directing learning his craft. His passage marks another who came from those eras and traditions. From a fifties actor studio school to episode television to blockbuster movies with major marquee stars like Redford and Cruise to becoming a recognizable icon on his own as an actor and cameo personality to becoming a enthusiast of laptop and digital video, his story is one of 20th century media, arts, and culture. And that is certainly worth recognition at the time of his passing.
posted by well-executed buffet at 11:21 PM
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