Loving Vincent
“The film brings the paintings of Vincent van
Gogh to life to tell his remarkable story. Every one of the 65,000 frames of
the film is an oil-painting hand-painted by 125 professional oil-painters who
travelled from all across the world to the Loving Vincent studios in Poland and
Greece to be a part of the production. As remarkable as Vincent’s brilliant
paintings, is his passionate and ill-fated life, and mysterious death.”
Directed by husband and wife duo- British
Animator Hugh Welchman, and Poland born artist Dorota Kobiela, the movie follows a
young man who wants to deliver Van Gogh’s final letter to his brother Theo, but
discovers that he's dead too. He then charts on a journey to meet all those people
the artist has ever painted, to find what really took place a few weeks before
Van Gogh's death, and whether there’s any possibility of it being a homicide. There's much mystery that shrouds his life and death, which serves as the subject of the movie.
Wheat field with crows (WikiCommons) |
And
the surprising part here is Vincent Van Gogh remained undiscovered and
unappreciated in his short lifetime, but years later he was considered an
artist par excellence. He is one of the most famous and influential artistic
figures in the Western world. And he started painting only at the age of 27. He, perhaps, took his own life after an extended period of
poverty and episodes of mental health problems at the age of 37. This movie is
as much about his life as it is about his death.
All of the 65,000 paintings if laid on the ground would be
enough to cover the entire London and Manhattan, as per the enthusiasts. Making a
completely painted feature film, without the use of digital paintings, was a
huge project in itself, was considered impossible at first. The animation process
was a long arduous process too. There was live action provided by the actors,
visual effects and digital tweaking of animation, which was then a reference
for the oil paintings. So there were video frames converted to oil paintings by
specialists. And they imitated Van Gogh's painting style of small brush strokes
as is in the famous painting of The Starry Night. It gave a sense of motion and
free flow from one frame to another.
The Starry Night (WikiCommons) |
It all started with a short film, which got such
rave reviews, that the production team proceeded to create the entire movie
from then on. Selecting passionate artists from around the world was tough as well. Each imagined how Vincent could have painted a particular scene, and
recreated that imagination. They also repainted some of his own works too. The
actors had a physical resemblance to the paintings, and their facial emotions
were well expressed on the canvas too. They used color for depicting the
present, and black tones for the flash backs.
The movie is a visual treat in true sense. There
are seasons, places, people, color and monochrome and all are soulfully created
with brush strokes. It's a art lover’s delight to be able to witness such a
daring, yet successfully executed work of art. Indeed it left me speechless. A
unique overwhelmingly and deeply satisfying cinematic experience. A befitting
and heartfelt tribute to the artist.
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