I've seen a few films directed by Sydney Pollack and enjoyed most of them (not The Firm). I particularly love Tootsie, The Electric Horseman and Absence of Malice and one of the things I love about them, is that I never once think, who directed this? Unlike other directors, Pollack had a great ability of staying out of the way. Let the story and the actors boost it along. No clever camera tricks, no long pauses so we can meditate on the meaning of life. Just story, action, move on.
Which made him being a key character actor in one of the most annoying "look-at-me" directorial efforts of all time, Eyes Wide Shut, such an ironic note. I could never imagine Pollack making a total bullshit movie like Eyes and yet here he was playing a lawyer to lead actor Tom Cruise. What's even funnier is that Pollack is the one good thing about that film, he's the one human being I recognized, the rest were talking mannequins.
But Pollack played another lawyer last year and was so great, because for once he played a total scumbag and that was as George Clooney's boss in Michael Clayton. He must have stolen his character from the Donald Rumsfeld gift shop, because he doesn't just ooze corporate/capitalist arrogance, he delights in his maliciousness. All of that is amazing, because Pollack just strikes you as a real mensch. So much humanity in his films, so much real life humor. There is hardly one false note in Tootsie. When I saw Electric Horseman, I must have been about 13 and never gave horses a thought before that, but that movie and Robert Redford's performance made me fall in love with the animal for the rest of my life. And realize that they should be free to run this land.
Sydney Pollack will be missed.
The Freditor
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