3 Reasons Why (I Loved This Movie about Vincent van Gogh)
- Aidan J
- Jul 10, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 14, 2018
This film is 2017’s Loving Vincent. This joint venture between English and Polish studios received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film and won many international accolades.
Simply put, it’s a detective movie. A postmaster’s son aims to deliver a letter from the deceased Vincent van Gogh to his brother, when he becomes unsettled as to the lack of explanation of Vincent’s death. During his journey, he tries to piece together the reason that Vincent died, whether it be suicide or murder.
While the protagonist, Armand Roulin, pieces together the real story, the director pieces together Vincent van Gogh’s artwork.
Here’s the first reason why this movie is so special: the entire work is painted in a perfect Vincent van Gogh imitation. While that, on its own, is an interesting gimmick, it gets stale quickly. So, the director sets up the shots as to perfectly match Van Gogh’s paintings in most scenes, transforming the once static portraits into living being and still paintings into active environments.
(Film top, authentic painting bottom)
Secondly, the sleuthing progresses in a deliberate but captivating manner. All the characters (who are all portraits done by Vincent van Gogh) have unique personalities and experiences with Vincent that do not always agree. The audience makes decisions along with Armand about who to trust, and as a result becomes invested in the plot of the film. Of course, any good mystery movie does this, but the perspectives are based on authentic letters sent to, from, and about Vincent. It immerses the audience within his time, investing them even more in the plot.
Finally, it leaves you in awe of the man who created 800 works of art within 8 years, only ever selling one piece during his life time. The movie seems to be an elegiac eulogy, meaning it expresses who he was exactly, how he has failed, and what others think about him (negatively), yet simultaneously praises the artist to show how he overcomes those flaws with the work. It seems balanced yet focuses enough on his virtues that the audience is always left with Loving Vincent.
Really, all I want from any given movie is for the title to be accomplished. I love being able to make those puns about them. Oh, I also really like when the movie is good. This movie does both, so I would strongly recommend it.
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