Loving Vincent (2017)

Directed by: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman | 95 minutes | animation, biography | Original voice cast: Douglas Booth, Josh Burdett, Holly Earl, Robin Hodges, Chris O’Dowd, John Sessions, Helen McCrory, Eleanor Tomlinson, Aidan Turner, Saoirse Ronan, Joe Stuckey, James Greene, Martin Herdman, Bill Thomas

There are those words that you would like to use once, but which you rarely or never get the chance to use. This reviewer had to wait fourteen years before he could finally knock the word ‘novelty’ out of his computer. The film that makes this possible is called ‘Loving Vincent’, a biographical drama that consists of paintings frame by frame. These paintings tell the story of Vincent van Gogh, in the style of the famous painter, of course.

‘Loving Vincent’ focuses on Van Gogh’s last years. A year after the painter’s suicide, the postman Joseph Roulin sends his son Armand to deliver a letter from the dead Vincent to his brother Theo in Paris. He also appears to be deceased. Driven by an obsessive curiosity, Armand then investigates the painter’s death. Was it suicide? And what does the enigmatic Doctor Gachet have to do with all this?

Sounds fun, doesn’t it, such a slumbering murder mystery? In practice it is quite disappointing. The plot is mainly used to tell about Vincent’s unspectacular last months. And to show in which environment he had ended up, in terms of location and social contacts. We see these last months in (black and white) flashbacks, and we hear the characters talk about it as they are interrogated by our amateur detective. Because the voices are rather flat and the painted characters show too little expression, this plot remains sterile and not very exciting.

But then the images! ‘Loving Vincent’ is a jewel to behold from start to finish. It is certainly a miracle for fans of Van Gogh to see all those famous paintings and people come to life. The colors splash from the screen and the almost mystical appearance of the paintings has been successfully transported to the film screen. The black and white flashbacks are drawn much more sharply, and there the expression of the characters comes into their own again.

Because of the mediocre plot this ‘Loving Vincent’ has not become a masterpiece, but the visuals make up for a lot, if not everything. And when it comes to novelty, we gladly add half a star. Because this reviewer had to wait fourteen years for such a novelty. Unique movie.