Loving Vincent
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 7:51 am
This Poland made film charting the last days of Van Gogh's life in Auvers-sur-Oise is extraordinary by virtue of the fact that the entire sixty-five thousand frames of the film were painted by hand, in the style of the painter, by a team of over one hundred artists. Rich in swirling color and lavishly extravagant scenery, the film is a joy to see even if the actual story becomes somewhat secondary to the production. We learn little of the painter himself, other than that (if the film is accurate in it's factual information) there is something of a mystery surrounding the actual events that resulted in Van Gogh's staggering into his hotel with a belly gunshot wound from which he died two days later. This is a shame because I have heard that he was an extraordinary kind man of high sensitivity, and I'd have liked to learn more of this, but hey - this is a thing of beauty and deserves to be seen by a much wider audience than it is likely to get. It's not a long film, and for all it's limited scope the story is engaging so even if you're not a natural fan of the arts I'd recommend it on the basis of its cinematic originality alone.