Film ReviewsLoving Vincent: Can’t buy love, or can you?
Nov 17, 2017 Anchorage Press
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This week, Christie’s, one of the world’s leading international arbiters of Art as Wealth, opened New York’s auction week with a day that brought in $479.3 million; $81.3 million were from the sale of Van Gogh’s "Laboureur dans un champ” alone. The painting is of a plowman tilting soil as seen from the artist’s window during a one-year stay in the asylum at Saint Rémy. The painting, while compelling, is hardly one of the artist’s best-known masterpieces like “The Starry Night”, “Irises”, or even “Almond Blossoms”; but — it’s a Van Gogh, and that is all any buyer needs to know because Van Gogh’s got “It”, the power to move human beings and markets to their knees. Now along comes Loving Vincent (which could have also been titled Loving, Vincent) because the film is as much about the love Van Gogh expressed in his letters as it is about how much he was, and is still, loved.
“Loving Vincent” is aesthetically unique and enticing, especially on the big screen. The story line is mediocre and uneventful, and the film is just a tad too long, but the reason to see the film is for its sheer visual merit and innovation. “Loving Vincent” is the world’s first feature-length, hand-painted animation film. Directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman worked with 125 talented painters to create a film in the style of Van Gogh. Each frame is hand painted to bring 94 of Van Gogh’s painting to a state of frenzied movement and emotional narrative that tells the story of a personal journey. The characters that are brought to life are based on portraits painted by Van Gogh combined with live action and computer generated effects that meld members of a stellar cast with the subjects in the paintings. The story that unravels is that of Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth), the son of the postmaster played by Chris O’Dowd, who is tasked with delivering a letter to Theo Van Gogh a year after the Vincent’s death. The reluctant Armand becomes enthralled in the painter’s story and the mystery of his death.
Vincent (Robert Gulaczyk) painting in the rain.
The creative endeavor of Loving Vincent consisted of 66,960 frames of oil paintings, six years of development, and over 1,345 discarded paintings. Like the body of work created by Van Gogh, the film reflects shifts in styles and techniques that are used to invent and imagine places, people, and their interactions. From a painting perspective, the film is luxurious, showing brushstrokes and tones that dance on the screen like atoms in a manic state that simply cannot hold still but yet come together into distinct and harmonious shapes and forms. Portraiture is essential to creating characters that are recognizable from Van Gogh’s palate and style and are simultaneously familiar because the actors and their performances are also reflected.
Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth) arriving in Auvers by train.
The story in Loving Vincent takes place a year after Van Gogh’s death, which happened a year after he painted "Laboureur dans un champ” and left Saint Rémy. The year after his stay at Saint Rémy, the artist consistently reported that he was doing well, so his downward spiral in the last six weeks of his life was surprising. The directors employ the use of Van Gogh’s rich and colorful palette to represent the present and direct plot and then deliver the past and fill-in gaps in the storytelling process though the use of grisailles—monochromatic, grey scale painting technique that is sometimes used as an underpainting in oil painting, but stands on its own as well. The meticulous efforts and direction bring multidimensional and well-rounded images to life for viewers, leaving them to discover, or rekindle, their love of Van Gogh’s art and gives them pause to morn his tragic life; for most this is priceless, for Christie’s, it’s about $81 million-worth.
Bear Tooth Theatrepub
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 at 5:30 PM
Wednesday, November 22, 2017 at 8:00 PM
PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some violence, sexual material and smoking
Runtime: 1:34
“Loving Vincent” is aesthetically unique and enticing, especially on the big screen. The story line is mediocre and uneventful, and the film is just a tad too long, but the reason to see the film is for its sheer visual merit and innovation. “Loving Vincent” is the world’s first feature-length, hand-painted animation film. Directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman worked with 125 talented painters to create a film in the style of Van Gogh. Each frame is hand painted to bring 94 of Van Gogh’s painting to a state of frenzied movement and emotional narrative that tells the story of a personal journey. The characters that are brought to life are based on portraits painted by Van Gogh combined with live action and computer generated effects that meld members of a stellar cast with the subjects in the paintings. The story that unravels is that of Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth), the son of the postmaster played by Chris O’Dowd, who is tasked with delivering a letter to Theo Van Gogh a year after the Vincent’s death. The reluctant Armand becomes enthralled in the painter’s story and the mystery of his death.
Vincent (Robert Gulaczyk) painting in the rain.
The creative endeavor of Loving Vincent consisted of 66,960 frames of oil paintings, six years of development, and over 1,345 discarded paintings. Like the body of work created by Van Gogh, the film reflects shifts in styles and techniques that are used to invent and imagine places, people, and their interactions. From a painting perspective, the film is luxurious, showing brushstrokes and tones that dance on the screen like atoms in a manic state that simply cannot hold still but yet come together into distinct and harmonious shapes and forms. Portraiture is essential to creating characters that are recognizable from Van Gogh’s palate and style and are simultaneously familiar because the actors and their performances are also reflected.
Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth) arriving in Auvers by train.
The story in Loving Vincent takes place a year after Van Gogh’s death, which happened a year after he painted "Laboureur dans un champ” and left Saint Rémy. The year after his stay at Saint Rémy, the artist consistently reported that he was doing well, so his downward spiral in the last six weeks of his life was surprising. The directors employ the use of Van Gogh’s rich and colorful palette to represent the present and direct plot and then deliver the past and fill-in gaps in the storytelling process though the use of grisailles—monochromatic, grey scale painting technique that is sometimes used as an underpainting in oil painting, but stands on its own as well. The meticulous efforts and direction bring multidimensional and well-rounded images to life for viewers, leaving them to discover, or rekindle, their love of Van Gogh’s art and gives them pause to morn his tragic life; for most this is priceless, for Christie’s, it’s about $81 million-worth.
Bear Tooth Theatrepub
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 at 5:30 PM
Wednesday, November 22, 2017 at 8:00 PM
PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some violence, sexual material and smoking
Runtime: 1:34