Loving Vincent (2017) Review!!

Synopsis – The world’s first fully oil painted feature film, brings the artwork of Vincent van Gogh to life in an exploration of the complicated life and controversial death of one of history’s most celebrated artists.

My Take – Even after all this time, artist Vincent Van Gogh remains one of the most controversial painters the world has ever seen. Vincent, who suffered, from what we now call bi-polar disease, was an intelligent, deeply sensitive man, who had a sad childhood in a strict bourgeois family, and was something of a misfit, yet ended up showing immense natural art talent. Picking up a brush for the first time at age 28 and dead by the age of 37, Van Gogh managed to leave behind approximately 800 paintings of portraits and landscapes – many among which are now famous pieces of art valuing over a million dollars, yet, the biggest mystery of his life still remains regarding his failed suicide attempt, and untimely death. While, there was enough drama in his life to warrant an animated or live action feature, co- directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman use their labor of love and admiration for the ‘father modern art’ to introduce us to their nearly decade in the making project – the world’s first full-feature film made entirely with oil paintings. The entire film comprises of 15 paintings per second of screen time which combined to make 65,000 frames of film. About 5,000 international artists applied to work on the film of which a team of 125 artists were selected, who worked in Vincent‘s own style & contributed full color paintings for the present and black and white paintings for the past as the story is being told by the people who knew Vincent. A cast of actors were filmed who themselves bore a resemblance to the real life people that Van Gogh painted throughout his life, who were incorporated into the film using green screen film-making techniques.

The film also used 94 of Van Gogh’s own paintings which are all well contained within the flow of the narration and for the dialogue, the film uses the tone & style of the many letters written by Van Gogh in his lifetime, including the 800 sent to his beloved brother Theo. Even though this new form of animation is a good enough reason to head to your nearest theater, the stunning visuals of the film are also accompanied by what can be described as a very engrossing detective mystery. Set in 1891, a year after the demise of Vincent Van Gogh (Robert Gulaczyk), the story follows Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth), a restless young Frenchman, who is tasked by Joseph Roulin (Chris O’Dowd), his postman father and a dear friend of the deceased painter, to hand deliver Vincent’s final letter to his brother Theo (Cezary Lukaszewicz). However, when Armand discovers that Theo has also passed away, he journeys on to the village of Auvers-sur-Oise to meet Dr. Gachet (Jerome Flynn), who cared for Vincent in the weeks after his ear-slicing incident. Upon reaching the village, sporting the yellow blazer so recognizable from his portrait, the angry and skeptical Armand begins to investigate about the painter’s suspicious death, which leads him to a friendly innkeeper (Eleanor Tomlinson), a garrulous boatman (Aidan Turner) and Gachet’s daughter, Marguerite Gachet (Saoirse Ronan) and housekeeper (Helen McCrory), who all provide conflicting accounts. Little does he know, this is only the beginning of his journey, that finds him researching Vincent’s life and a journey that helps him discover more about himself. With this masterpiece, the Polish/ English directorial duo Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman bring something new to the table, even while covering familiar biographical territory. As I mentioned before this is purportedly the first feature film to be painted entirely by hand, employing a team of over 100 artists to painstakingly tackle each individual frame. For a 91-minute film that’s no mean achievement. At 24-frames-per-second, some 130,000 individual paintings make up the film. The effect is undoubtedly impressive. Using a rotoscopic technique familiar to fans of director Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly, the flashbacks are rendered in black and white, while the present-tense is met with a narrative approximating Van Gogh’s own style. Gobs of oil paint flicker and flash with every movement onscreen, rendering literal the vibration impact of Van Gogh’s post-Impressionist brushstrokes. But because writer-directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman based the paintings on live-action footage shot with actors — the stylized images carry some natural human warmth. The movement of each frame is done with a moving brush stroke. At first it seems distracting but this is because it is a style that has never been fully realized to this extent. Every few scenes most people will recognize some of the artist’s most famous works as they are brought to life on screen.

The paintings are not all exactly as he painted them as he used different styles throughout his career. Some have more vibrant color added or the original painting is extended out to fill the cinema screen. The colors are wonderfully vivid but are also slightly changed to match the season depicted on screen. It is truly beautiful and captivating throughout. This alone should be enough to convince you to see it, but there’s also a plot, and an intriguing one at that. It sets up a whodunit of sorts, posing the question – who killed him? Vincent’s true story is very tragic, and very sad. He is the epitome of a tormented artist, who never found success or fame in his lifetime. His work only became recognized after his death, and much of his life was marred by depression, loneliness, and mental illness. His painful story of setbacks, struggles with mental illness, and creative redemption could easily fall victim to Hollywood romanticism. Fortunately, care has been taken here to attend to the sources: the original paintings and Van Gogh’s own eloquent letters. The story, though a tad straightforward, is almost as entertaining as the art as the screenplay examines the mysterious circumstances of Vincent‘s supposed suicide by introducing us to the people the artist knew in Paris, Arles and Auvers, France. These are the men, women and children who inhabited his paintings and letters, and the plot – though fictional – feels like a true-life detective story. Sure, some of the proceedings are quite expected, such as Armand’s transformation from feckless young man to art-history gentleman is improbable. Sometimes the effect is kitsch, and the film is at its best when it veers away from realism: a superb nightmare scene channels the needling psychological darkness inherent in Van Gogh’s life. Through the stories told about him, the audience is brought into the disturbed life of the man who would never see his greatness recognized. With its 94 minute runtime, this cinematic experiment explores how, with his brilliance, notoriety intertwines Vincent’s very fabric. Even as the central character, he remains the most ambiguous. Even though, the filmmakers only hint at possible answers, the film does not set out to answer the questions it poses: instead, it lets them haunt you. However, the most interesting character is Postman Roulin, with a big bushy beard (that glows in the animation). He comes across as the most wide, almost a father character to everyone in the film, and I could’ve listen to him speak for hours. Sure, at times, the film risks capitulating to the Van Gogh cult and its fetish for the ultimate tortured artist. An example is the film’s return to his troubled childhood, loomed over by his mother – the stony-faced matriarch who expected more. Told in the sharper black-and-white style of the film’s flashbacks, her brief appearance has a melodramatic Woman in Black quality and the cliché-ridden script here doesn’t help. But, on the whole, the film manages well. Besides, the film tries to understand his art though his character by being immersed in that very art, so plot is secondary to experience. The film is also well scored by Clint Mansell (known for his Darren Aronofsky compositions). It also helps that the actors and actresses involved, such as Chris O’Dowd, Douglas Booth, John Sessions, Eleanor Thompson, Jerome Flynn, Saoirse Ronan, Helen McCrory, Aidan Turner and Robert Gulaczyk turn in exceptional performances. On the whole, ‘Loving Vincent’ is a remarkable stylistic achievement that is not only innovative and visually striking but also a surreal viewing experience.