• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Elevenses
  • Business
  • Food
  • Travel
  • Property
  • JOBS
  • All
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Sport
    • Tech/Auto
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Film

Film Review: Loving Vincent

Films about enigmatic real life characters often go to large efforts to find and discover their chosen figure. In Loving Vincent this search is a bit more literal. Vincent van Gogh (Robert Gulaczyk) was an ardent letter writer during his life and after his death Joseph Roulin (Chris O’Dowd), a local postman, was left with […]

Wyndham Hacket Pain by Wyndham Hacket Pain
2017-10-09 20:02
in Film, Film Reviews
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Films about enigmatic real life characters often go to large efforts to find and discover their chosen figure. In Loving Vincent this search is a bit more literal. Vincent van Gogh (Robert Gulaczyk) was an ardent letter writer during his life and after his death Joseph Roulin (Chris O’Dowd), a local postman, was left with an undelivered letter from Vincent to his brother. Unable to post it himself, he entrusts his son, Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth), with the job. After finding that Theo van Gogh (Cezary Lukaszewicz) had also died, Armand descends upon the French town of Auvers-sur-Oise where Vincent had spent his final years. There he speaks to the local residents and hears their stories about the artist they all knew in different ways.

The idea of creating an entire film painted in the style of van Gogh is ingenious. In many respects there is no better way to celebrate the mysterious painter and illustrate the ways in which he viewed the world. Bringing together more than 65000 individually painted images over several years is a huge achievement that rightly deserves applause.

It is such a shame that all this work and effort is wasted on a poor script and dull story. This makes watching Loving Vincent a very frustrating experience. Beautiful images are accompanied by disjointed dialogue and a story that would be more at home on children’s television.

It doesn’t help that there is a strange mismatch of accents. Armand Roulin and Joseph Roulin may be father and son and may have spent their entire lives in the same small town but for some reason one has an East London accent and the other has an Irish accent. It feels as if voice actors were chosen for their celebrity profiles and not for their suitability in each role.

Aside from that, certain aspects of the plot verge on conspiracy and even suggest that van Gogh may not have committed suicide as it traverses each conflicted account of the last days of his life. In the end it does make its mind up about his fate but if his life and death were not so mysterious after all then why is he so peripheral to the story. The plot is constructed under the premise that his life was a mystery, but by finally making a judgement about it and rejecting the many claims that make up the film the filmmakers are inadvertently making most of the story redundant. We are asked to ponder van Gogh’s final days and think about each possibility only to be later told that each outcome is false. It is hard to come out of Loving Vincent without thinking you have wasted your time. In all honestly the film taught me nothing about the painter’s work or life.

Rarely has such a brilliant idea been executed so poorly. The hand painted animation that makes up Loving Vincent may be a beautiful homage to the great painter but the script and story is more suitable for a children’s picture book than a feature film. Directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman could have created something truly remarkable but instead it is largely disappointing.

In cinemas from Friday 13th October

RELATED 

RelatedPosts

Richard Curtis uses Al Pacino’s Any Given Sunday speech to inspire global action on climate change

Final Thoughts on Cannes 2023

Cannes 2023 Film Review: La Chimera

Cannes 2023 Film Review: Last Summer

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/film/london-film-festival-2017-watchlist/13/09/

Previous Post

Film Review: Bitch

Next Post

An old man telling women they can drive is sexism, not freedom

Please login to join discussion

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

More from TLE

Hancock gets SAS roasting and everyone says the same thing

Inflation drops sharply in Europe

Major Chinese Bubble Tea brand opens on Shaftesbury Avenue

Journalist realises mid-interview that she’s not been paid to take part in misogyny debate

Steve Bray ejected from Tory conference meeting after protest

Secondary school hit by concrete crisis now ‘one of top on list for rebuild’

No need for ‘newt motel’ as Boris Johnson gets permission to build swimming pool

Restaurant opens in Clapham with focus on British food and wine

Daily Mail scores spectacular own goal with Gary Lineker article

The Boom of Superyacht Shipyards in Tarragona Versus Overcrowding in Mallorca

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




← Film Review: Bitch ← An old man telling women they can drive is sexism, not freedom
-->