BIFF17 Loving Vincent

Synopsis

There’s one word for this utterly unique documentary: “wow!”

This beautiful film is a detective story, of sorts, that examines the death of artist Vincent van Gogh from all manner of personal perspectives and angles. The thing of wonder here is that the story is told through animation of the great artist’s work, thick with brushstroke textures you can almost touch and with colours that spring from the screen.

A seven-year labour of love for directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman and their army of animators and artists, the film was painstakingly built from more than 65,000 hand-painted frames. It’s nothing short of an astonishing achievement as the film weaves many of the master painter’s most famous works into the narrative, as many of the people who sat for Van Gogh relate their thoughts on his most unusual death.

With a voice cast including Douglas Booth, Robert Gulaczyk as Vincent, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jerome Flynn, Chris O'Dowd, John Sessions, Saoirse Ronan and Helen McCrory, a film like Loving Vincent is a rare thing and a real cinematic and artistic treat.