It is not the usual
routine one ~ the production techniques
and distinctive look of this picture, the first entirely oil-painted animation
feature film in history, are perhaps more striking than the story – reviews state. Set 12
months after the death of Vincent van Gogh, the somewhat laboured narrative
weaves together a group of disparate characters who all posed for the artist in
a story that explores the nature of his death. Douglas Booth, playing Armand
Roulin, is our guide, though this slight, episodic tale. There are sequences of
extraordinary beauty – I particularly loved a scene that captured Vincent’s
tortured countenance in reflection, shattered in the surface of the water of
his washbasin. In the visual poetry of moments like this, the film comes
closest to capturing the maverick genius of the artist, writes another
newspaper review.
Loving Vincent is a 2017
biographical animated drama film about the life of painter Vincent van Gogh. It
is the first fully painted animated film. It is written and directed by Dorota
Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, and is being produced by Hugh Welchman and Sean
Bobbitt of BreakThru Films and Ivan Mactaggart of Trademark Films. The
development was funded by the Polish Film Institute, and re-training of
professional oil painters to become painting-animators on the film was
partially funded through a Kickstarter campaign. 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 115 painters. The film premiered at the 2017 Annecy
International Animated Film Festival.
Another review
states that anyone with a fondness for the 1991 picture Van Gogh, however, is
in for a disappointment. There are no cheerful prostitutes, no can-cans in
Montmartre and no suggestion that van Gogh had an affair with the daughter of
his physician, Dr Gachet. Also, van Gogh himself remains an elusive presence. Instead,
Armand’s enquiries focus on the still-fascinating questions of where van Gogh’s
gun came from, why he shot himself in the stomach and what happened to all his painting
equipment. The end result is very good, though somewhat sanitised, and I’m not
sure the rerecording of Don McLean’s Vincent really helps.
In case you are to
ask – whose bio-pic is this ? - Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 – 1890) was a
Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential
figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created about
2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last
two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and
self-portraits (selfies
!!) , and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and
expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. His
suicide at 37 followed years of mental illness and poverty.
As a young man he
worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was
transferred to London. He turned to religion, and spent time as a Protestant
missionary in southern Belgium. He drifted in ill health and solitude before
taking up painting in 1881, having moved back home with his parents. His
younger brother Theo supported him financially, and the two kept up a long
correspondence by letter. His paintings grew brighter in color as he developed
a style that became fully realised during his stay in Arles in the south of
France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include
olive trees, cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh suffered from
psychotic episodes and delusions and though he worried about his mental
stability, he often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and
drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a
razor, when in a rage, he severed part of his own left ear. His depression continued and on 27 July 1890,
Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died from his injuries
two days later.
Van Gogh was
unsuccessful during his lifetime, and was considered a madman and a failure. He
became famous after his suicide, and exists in the public imagination as the
quintessential misunderstood genius, the artist "where discourses on madness
and creativity converge". His lifestory perhaps portrays that of a tragic painter,
whose troubled personality typifies the romantic ideal of the tortured artist ~
and the typical way the World casts genius after death while treating badly
when living !
With regards
– S. Sampathkumar.
PS : as read and taken from various sources including Wikipedia, bbc, dailymail, independent, the sun, mirror, telegraph .. .. ..
