Loving Vincent
Last night I was lucky enough to attend the UK & Ireland Premiere of Loving Vincent at the Glasgow Film Theatre, screened live from The National Gallery in London. Having seen the initial trailer for the film over a year ago I have been waiting with anticipation at its release fully expecting a masterpiece - and I wasn't disappointed.
Taking eight years to complete, two of which were spent solely working with the 125 artists who hand painted each of the 65,000 frames that make up this film, it truly does feel like magic is unfolding in front of your eyes.
The narrative is set a year after the death of Vincent Van Gogh and follows Armand Roulin, played by Douglas Booth, on his journey to deliver a found letter from Vincent to his brother Theo, turning into a bit a of detective to find out the truth behind Vincent's death. Did he really commit suicide or was it murder?
The entire film was first shot as a live action in front of a green screen for 4 weeks, then painted in Van Gogh's style as a stop-motion, the co-director Hugh Welchman likened the process to that of making Wallace and Gromit except with paint instead of plasticine. Initially this takes a little getting used to, but it truly is wonderful to see the paint come alive.
Throughout the film we are introduced to different characters, all of whom were in Vincent's life and were painted by him. Seeing a scene from the film move through each frame and then hit the exact painting that Van Gogh had made was really satisfying. "A where's wally with paint" was how Helen McCrory who plays Louise Chevalier described it in the Q&A session after the screening.
If I'm being totally honest, I'm not sure Van Gogh's paintings needed to be turned into moving image. Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful to watch, but at the same time I couldn't help but think that his paintings are already magical to look at as they are and perhaps turning them into a film takes that away a little, cheapens it somehow? Or if it were to be moving image I don't know that I needed the storyline and the voices - I think I would have been satisfied just watching the moving images with the soundtrack by Clint Mansell, which the director and crew fought for two years to get him agree to do.
Regardless of these thoughts, I would urge you absolutely to go and see this. It is a masterpiece, the first fully painted feature film. And if you like it, which I'm sure you will, you'll be pleased to hear they've teased us with the idea of doing a horror film next in the style of Francisco Goya - yes, you heard me!
- Melissa x