Loving Vincent

Released 12th June 2017, Loving Vincent is an ‘animated’ biopic detailing the final 6 weeks of Vincent van Gogh’s life. The most important thing to note with this film is its ‘animation’; achieved by 100+ artists utilising van Gogh’s post-impressionist art style to paint over filmed footage of the actors. These frames are then brought together, similar to stop-motion, to create fluid movements whilst retaining the oil painting aesthetic. The result of this aesthetic is a truly unique experience; from the use of Starry Nights and Wheat Fields in all applicable scenes to every torch & lamp being illustrated like a star from Starry Night Over the Rhone.

Despite the paint-overs, there are a variety of actors who clearly brought the life to the characters that the art would imitate. As put by Robert Daniels of 812FILMREVIEWS: “The result is stunning, lively, and brilliant, as we watch painted subjects, long since gone, come to life to share their stories about the artist”. Jerome Flynn & Chris O’Dowd each bring a charm to Doctor Gachet & Roulin, respectively. However, Douglass Booth is fantastic as Armand Roulin by making a first unlikeable character have enough charisma to enable you to follow him through his journey of discovery. Robert Gulaczyk is also great as Vincent van Gogh himself, for what we see of him.

This perhaps the greatest non-visual strength of the film, the film’s narrative takes place a year after the tragic death of van Gogh. Everything we learn of van Gogh’s final weeks is learnt through a frame narrative as Armand questions locals who knew Vincent. This strengthens the pacing phenomenally as the snippet-stories act as letters; they provide information, but the character’s biases also tell you about their personalities. As a result, the audience are never bogged down in a flashback or extensive periods in ‘present’ time. Overall, this is a refreshing film experience which I would recommend to any who are able to view it.