‘Beautiful, nostalgic refuge’: ‘Loving Vincent’, a review

“"It is not hard to see that the film was a painstaking operation, the product of the work of a creative team of over 100 painters.”

Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman's film, Loving Vincent, is promising fuel for the theory that, in a world which is increasingly techno-logical, some things are best done the old-fashioned way. A sizeable amount of the world's population (and, in some ways, I include myself) have embraced a sort of 'counterculture', a nostalgic refuge in vinyl records and vintage clothing, away from a fast-paced modern world that is ever more 'sci-fi'. In a similar way, this film renounces digital effects, such as 4K wonderment, in favour of old-style hand painting, to absolutely marvellous results. Loving Vincent deservedly prides itself on being the 'first fully-painted feature film'.

As the title partly suggests, the picture focuses on the events before and after the death of the famous Dutch post- impressionist painter, Vincent Van Gogh, through the investigative eyes of Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth), the son of one of Van Gogh's friends. The film plays out as a sort-of detective story, in which reconstruction and flashbacks abound. This is the tragic tale of an artist, among countless others, who was not appreciated in his own time and who only gained much-needed acceptance posthumously.

It is true that, sadly, Van Gogh will be mostly remembered as a 'nutcase' who cut off his own ear, which he subsequently gave, as a gift, to a prostitute. Adding fuel to this fire is the fact that he eventually committed suicide. However, the film could not be timelier in that it delves into the hot-topic of mental illness, and how problems in Van Gogh's childhood led to him being plagued by thoughts of not being good enough at what he did and, worst of all, being a burden to others.

It is not hard to see that the film was a painstaking operation, the product of the work of a creative team of over 100 painters. It is no surprise that this feature was six years in the making! Each frame is worth its weight in gold and the physical likenesses of the real-life actors is breathtaking, so much so that one sometimes would not need a cast-list in order to make clarifications!

Finally, although I have not seen the entirety of Martin Rosen's 1978 animated film, Watership Down (a film, and, previously, a story, about the lives of a group of rabbits), I know there is more than a fleeting comparison. Both films deal with tragic death and the harsh realities of life. It is also perhaps no coincidence that Art Garfunkel's song Bright Eyes, in Watership Down, is touchingly similar to Don McLean's song Vincent (Starry Starry Night), interpreted by relative newcomer, Lianne La Havas, for the end credits of Loving Vincent.

In sum, this is a seminal work that transports you to another time, but is, paradoxically, also grittily contemporary. I, for one, am certainly 'loving' Loving Vincent.