Loving Vincent
Directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman
UK & Poland, 2017
‘Your loving Vincent’ was how the artist signed off his letters.
This beautifully crafted film, the animations drawn in a pastiche of the style of van Gogh himself, is a detective story, an investigation into how he died. Was Vincent shot by someone, or did he shoot himself? During the process of the investigation, we learn a lot about the artist’s life.
At times, the story-line began to flag but the animations, showing the landscape of Arles (and much else) in van Gogh’s characteristically visible brush strokes, were always worth watching.