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Loving Vincent (2017)

Knowing the talent and effort that went into creating this beautiful film made the watch even more enjoyable. Absorbing every single moment and appreciating how much time has been spent on each frame was fascinating but also slightly distracting from the narrative. I felt that I spent a lot less time concentrating on characters and a lot more time concentrating on the colours and brush strokes. Which may have been the intention, if so I still loved watching the film, although I do not recall everything that happened in the story.

The plot of Loving Vincent (2017) consists of a young man (Douglas Booth) visiting the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist’s final letter and ends up investigating the artist’s final days.

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Simple plot, yes, but it had to be, or this film would have been too much. I am absolutely fascinated at the craftsmanship that has gone into creating such a unique and original movie, every frame seamlessly flows into the next and the detail is breathtaking. Knowing the style of Van Gogh’s work meant I could really appreciate the details, every element was screaming his style and reminded me a lot of his painting, which I’m assuming was the intention.

After watching I did some research and realised that seamlessly placed into the story are 94 reimagined versions of Van Gogh’s paintings! The attention to detail is stunning and I think research needs to be done after watching this film because it makes you appreciate the single 66,960 frames of oil paintings. I am stunned at the final product and the obstacles that must have been hard to overcome.

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Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman have created a historical movie that not only tells a beautiful story about a talented artist people should know more about but also surprises us in every frame with colour and details that have never been attempted before. Knowing this film took six years to complete with the help of over one hundred different artists makes me appreciate the film even more, although the narrative was not as exciting or factual as possible it did not matter.

As I said previously the narrative did get slightly lost, simply because of how distracting the visual was. I was far to engrossed in the details to really concentrate on the story, which is sad because I’m sure that was not the intention.

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Although Disney’s CoCo did steal the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, Loving Vincent was nominated and recognised for the brilliant efforts and spectacular final piece. I am so happy that this film has been respected and appreciated for all the effort that went into creating it, I loved watching this film. Whether I was distracted by the paintings or not, I do need to give it another watch but after my first time viewing I was so incredibly impressed.

I would recommend this film for everyone to watch at least once and really absorb everything that is going on, really invest in the film and concentrate on the little details. I’d class the genre as a drama/mystery, so if you are a fan of Vincent Van Gogh or simply being blown away give it a watch.

7/10 probe points

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