#15 ‘At Eternity’s Gate’/’Loving Vincent’

Movie night date – 10/07/19. Post date – 16/07/19.

Vincent Van Gogh. A name you’ve probably heard of before, whether it’s from his art or that time he cut off his ear. Either way, an incredibly influential person to art even if he wasn’t in his own time. You might disagree with me, but he has always been around me as I was growing up. My mother loves Vincent Van Gogh so I saw his works a bit while growing up. When it comes to art history, I definitely appreciate the Impressionists the most, even if Vincent is a post-Impressionist. Because of all this, Vincent Van Gogh is the theme of this week’s movies. We begin with the new movie to me, which is the 2018 movie ‘At Eternity’s Gate’ by Julian Schnabel, followed by the unique 2017 film ‘Loving Vincent’ by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman.

At Eternity’s Gate – 2018 – Julian Schnabel – 110 Mins

‘At Eternity’s Gate’ is a movie that caught my attention when my sister sent me the trailer and her and my mother saw it having won tickets and recommended it. I eventually got around to watching it and I was not disappointed. One of the things that caught my eye of this was the cast, like Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac, and Mads Mikkelsen. I haven’t seen them in a whole lot of things that branch out differently, so this was something cool to see them in. Also I’m just finding out the guy who played Vincent’s brother Rupert Friend, played Agent 47 in ‘Hitman: Agent 47’ in 2015…so yeah, that’s cool too. While both movies have differences, they both share an idea and tell it in a different way. They tell the story of Vincent Van Gogh from the aspect that he did not commit suicide, but instead was killed by accidental manslaughter or foul play. Either way, this movie focuses on the final years of Vincent and tells its story thusly. And yes; I just wanted to sound impressive and use the word “thusly”.

For those who don’t know, Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch painter in France. I always get that confused about where he came from. The film uses Willem Dafoe amazingly in this role. He shows the true pain that Vincent lived in. I cannot begin to imagine living as he did; hated by the townspeople and having kids throw rocks at you, when all you want to do is paint. As a creative person myself, it’s hard not to be saddened by his story. Before watching this film, I didn’t know about the story leading up to him cutting his ear off. All I knew was that he cut his ear off and gave it to a prostitute. I didn’t know it was probably triggered by the fact his friend Paul Gauguin was about to leave, and would never see Vincent again; only send letters. As namby pamby and naive as it sounds to say, friends are important. Everyone needs them, no matter how unique they are.

One of the other interesting things that this film did in its portrayal of Vincent is that it shows him as quite intelligent. I don’t know why but I just always seemed to associate him akin to a village idiot. Yet, in this he is shown reading Shakespeare. I’m not gonna say that means all who read Shakespeare are intelligent, but for that time reading still wasn’t the world’s strong suit. Not bad, but not great either. I never really looked at him in that light and I can thank the movie for provoking it. Other cool things about the movie include the cool scene where Vincent talks to the Priest. A very interesting talk, especially since Vincent was going to be a Christian worker in earlier years. Another cool thing is the background music. It’s pretty minimalist classical stuff which doesn’t overdo the mood too much. Makes for easy watching, you know? Overall, I liked this movie. I know I say that for a lot of movies, but this one wasn’t bad. Little artsy with its camera work, but still pretty good.

Loving Vincent – 2017 – Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman – 95 Mins

Now, ‘Loving Vincent’ I saw with my family in theatres and didn’t know much about it. Needless to say, I was blown away by it. I didn’t know that it was a Kickstarter assisted project…if I had I would have happily donated to get a book. This movie is literally a masterpiece. That is to say, the whole movie is painted. 125 classically trained painters. 20 countries. 65,000 frames to be painted over. 4 years of work. That is dedication, in my books at least. I love it because it’s all done in his style. It’s such an amazing way to pay homage to him. I’m certain, though the film took so much work that Vincent would have enjoyed it. Regardless he would have liked seeing moving pictures.

On top of that, this film also had some cool actors. Most I didn’t know about, but I recognised Chris O’Dowd from ‘The IT Crowd’. Who I didn’t realise was in it till Googling it now was Douglas Booth as Armand Roulin, the main guy trying to find who should get Vincents final letter. He was in ‘Mary Shelley’ as Percy Shelley. AND it was filmed the same year. Small world, huh? AND he is in something I’ve been wanting to watch, ‘The Dirt’, that biopic about  Mötley Crüe. Also as a side note, upon looking into that dude more he seems like an awesome person. Apparently he does a lot of work with refugees. I thought I knew the actress above (Eleanor Tomlinson) from something but the only things I could find I MIGHT know her from was ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ in one episode, or I saw her when my family was watching ‘Poldark’. Either way, this film had amazing actors and actresses.

Another thing that really stood out to me in this film was the soundtrack. I absolutely went home and bought the album pretty much straight away. First thing about it is the amazing cover version of Don McLean’s ‘Vincent’, title changed to ‘Starry Starry Night’ by Lianne La Havas. I was almost certain it was P!NK singing it, but god damn that lady is an amazing singer. So emotional and heartfelt. On top of that, the actual soundtrack of the movie is all songs titled after Vincent works or Vincent related titles. All the music gives amazing feels for their scenes and works amazingly as background music when studying or writing. It’s my go to for writing at least. All these things put together make it an amazing album and movie in general. Love this movie; won’t be forgetting it any time soon.

Closing Thoughts

Very fun movies; definitely worth watching if you want to know more about Vincent or love art and art history and stuff. But looking onwards! Tonight’s movies. I looked up and the clock just ticked over to midnight. God damn it…Somewhat fittingly however, tonight’s movies will be a bloody mess. If you know your directors, that will give away one of them. Anyway:

Hope you’re having a wonderful day and keep smiling.