"I want to Touch People with my Art." Loving Vincent

Loving Vincent

3/5

Directed by: Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman

Rated: PG - 13

           In the 19th century in a small villa northwest of Paris, France an artist stood in front of his easel painting the landscape, and weathering the torment in his mind and tribulations of his past. This renowned artist, Vincent Van Gogh, is hailed as the father of modern art. His knife cut paintings have inspired artists, poets and filmmakers for generations. It is tragic that in his life Vincent only sold one of his priceless works. As he is a genius deserving recognition and respect, Polish filmmakers Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman found it fitting Vincent's work and life should be honored through a hand painted film. With just one glance audiences will see why Loving Vincent is a work of art that should be cherished and appreciated.
           The most prominent reason why audiences will want to experience this film is for its visual design. Loving Vincent is the world's first fully hand painted feature length animated film. Each of this film's individual frames is a picture of a canvas drawn up with brush, ink, paint and color. According to IMDb.com "Each of the film's 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas, using the same technique as Van Gogh, created by a team of 100 painters." There are also scenes in Loving Vincent that are direct replicas of some of Van Gogh's more famous works, such as "Starry Night," "Blue Room," "Café Terrace at Night," "Girl in White," and many others. Within seconds of this film's start, Loving Vincent's distinct art style captures the eyes and minds of even this film's most uninterested viewers.
           Not only do all of Loving Vincent's scenes and shots look fantastic but so do this film's characters. Each one is brought to life through the talents of well versed actors and actresses. Loving Vincent is led by the exceptional work of Douglas Booth, playing the role of one of Van Gogh's portrait characters, Armand Roulin the "Young Man in Yellow Jacket." Roulin is on a quest for answers concerning the untimely death and mysterious life of his friend Vincent. On his journey Roulin encounters Adeline Ravoux, played by a kind hearted and steadfast Eleanor Tomlinson, Marguerite Gachet, played by a worn and tender Saoirse Ronan, and Doctor Gachet, played by a passionate and earnest Jerome Flynn. Though these characters are memorable the scenes with them tend to blur.
           Since this film's weakest aspect is perhaps its unsharpened screenplay, Loving Vincent's worthwhile story suffers from poor pacing and an unwanted predictability that comes from this film's overabundant use of one stock scene (Roulin meets someone, he asks them if they know about Vincent, they say they do, they tell him about Vincent in a flashback, Roulin then visits another person and this cycle continues). As this film's seeming monotony, which is only enforced by its repetitive musical score, is only broken up by two or three different scene types, Loving Vincent can deter casual viewers and may even unintentionally lull enthusiastic viewers into a relaxed and unstimulated state. The film, however, is engaging and most audiences will find it to be a more than worthwhile experience. Some viewers may find the film's ending to be a little unsatisfactory, but perhaps this is the filmmakers' intent. As lives can come to a close without climax or relief, so to does Loving Vincent leave its audiences with troubled minds but hopeful hearts.

Verdict: Though the film's screenplay suffers from predictable scene structure and poor pacing, Loving Vincent is a successful homage to Vincent Van Gogh, a man who was an artist, brother and friend.