LOVING VINCENT [2017 / 2018] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
An Animated Masterpiece that is AWE-INSPIRING!
The life and controversial death of Vincent van Gogh as told by his paintings and by the characters that inhabit them. Beginning a year after his demise, this portrait of the artist is built via a series interviews conducted by Armand Roulin [Douglas Booth] – a regular model for the artist’s portraits – who becomes obsessed with Vincent van Gogh’s death, caused by a bullet wound to the stomach. Was it an accident? Was it suicide?
‘LOVING VINCENT’ film has been entirely hand painted by a team of over 100 artists. In 6 years between starting to pain and his death, Vincent van Gogh painted over 800 paintings, only one of which was sold in his lifetime. Vincent van Gogh was posthumously proclaimed the father of modern art.
‘LOVING VINCENT’ sets out to explore one of art’s great mysteries, a unique film created using over 66,000,900,60 hand painted frames and features music from the award winning composer Clint Mansell [‘The Fountain’ and ‘Black Swan’]. Winner of Best Animated Feature of the 2017 European Film Awards and a Golden Globe Nominee for Best Animated Feature.
“Who am I in the eyes of most people? A nobody, a non-entity, an unpleasant person. Someone who has not, and never will have, any position in society, in short the lowest of the low. Well then, even if that was all absolutely true, one day I would like show by my work, what this non-entity has in his heart.” Vincent van Gogh.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 2017 Ajyal Youth Film Festival: Win: Audience Award for BreakThru Productions (production company), Dorota Kobiela (director), Hugh Welchman (producer), Ivan Mactaggart (producer) and Trademark Films (production company). Win: Jury Prize: Bader for Best Feature Film for BreakThru Productions, Dorota Kobiela (director), Hugh Welchman (producer), Ivan Mactaggart (producer) and Trademark Films. 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival: Win: Audience Award for Feature for Dorota Kobiela, BreakThru Productions and Trademark Films. 2017 Austin Film Critics Association: Nominated: Austin Film Critics Award for Best Animated Film. 2017 Awards Circuit Community Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Feature Film for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2017 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 Byron Bay International Film Festival: Win: Best Animation for GreenHouseFX Best Animation for Dorota Kobiela (director). 2017 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film [2nd place]. 2017 Detroit Film Critics Society, USA: Nominated: Best Animated Feature. 2017 European Film Awards: Win: European Animated Feature Film for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2017 Florida Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 Golden Trailer Awards: Win: Best Foreign Animation/Family Trailer for Cinema Management Group and Zealot UK. Win: Best Foreign Graphics in a Trailer for Cinema Management Group and Zealot UK. 2017 Indiana Film Journalists Association, USA: Win: Original Vision Award. Nominated: Best Animated Feature. 2017 Indiewire Critics' Poll: Nominated: Best Animated Feature [3rd place]. 2017 Jameson CineFest – Miskolc International Film Festival: Nominated: Emeric Pressburger Prize for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2017 Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 Melbourne International Film Festival: Nominated: People's Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman [8th Place]. 2017 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Top Ten Independent Films. 2017 North Texas Film Critics Association, USA: Nominated: Best Animated Film [3rd place]. 2017 Phoenix Critics Circle: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 Polish Film Festival: Nominated: Golden Lion Award for Best Film for Dorota Kobiela (director). 2017 San Diego Film Critics Society Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 San Francisco Film Critics Circle: Nominated: Best Animated Feature. 2017 Satellite Awards: Nominated: Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media. 2017 Seattle Film Critics Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Feature for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2017 Shanghai International Film Festival: Win: Golden Goblet for Best Animation Film for Dorota Kobiela (Director), Hugh Welchman (Co-Director), BreakThru Productions (Producer) and Trademark Films (Producer). 2017 Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 St. Louis Film Critics Association, USA: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2017 São Paulo International Film Festival: Win: Audience Award for Best Foreign Feature Film for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival: Win: Most Popular International Feature for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2017 Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Feature. 2017 Women Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Female. 2018 Academy Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Feature Film for Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan Mactaggart. 2018 Golden Globes: Nominated: Best Animated Motion Picture. 2018 BAFTA Film Awards: Best Animated Feature Film for Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan Mactaggart. 2018 Alliance of Women Film Journalists: Win: EDA Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Nominated: Best Animated Female for Saoirse Ronan as "Marguerite Gachet." 2018 Amanda Awards, Norway: Nominated: Best Foreign Feature Film (Årets utenlandske kinofilm) for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman [Poland/UK]. 2018 Annie Awards: Nominated: Best Independent Animated Feature. Nominated: Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production for Clint Mansell. Nominated: Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production for Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Jacek Dehnel. 2018 Art Directors Guild: Nominated: Excellence in Production Design Award for Animated Film for Daniela Faggio (art director), Luke Gledsdale (art director) and Matthew Button (production designer). 2018 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: Critics Choice Award for Best Animated Feature. 2018 Central Ohio Film Critics Association: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2018 David di Donatello Awards: Nominated: Best European Film (Miglior Film dell'Unione Europea) for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2018 Denver Film Critics Society: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2018 Georgia Film Critics Association: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2018 Gold Derby Awards: Nominated: Animated Feature for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2018 Hawaii Film Critics Society: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2018 Houston Film Critics Society Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2018 International Cinephile Society Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2018 International Film Music Critics Award: Nominated: Best Original Score for an Animated Film for Clint Mansell. 2018 International Online Cinema Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Feature for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2018 North Carolina Film Critics Association: Nominated: Best Animated Film. 2018 Polish Film Awards: Win: Eagle Award for Best Production Design (Najlepsza Scenografia) for Matthew Button. Win: Eagle Award for Best Editing (Najlepszy Montaz) for Dorota Kobiela and Justyna Wierszynska. Nominated: Eagle Award for Best Film (Najlepszy Film) for Dorota Kobiela (director) and Hugh Welchman (director). Nominated: Eagle Award for Best Film Score (Najlepsza Muzyka) for Clint Mansell (composer). Nominated: Eagle Award for Discovery of Year (Odkrycie roku) for Dorota Kobiela (director) and Hugh Welchman (director). 2018 SESC Film Festival, Brazil: Win: Audience Award for Best Foreign Film (Melhor Filme Estrangeiro) for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. 2018 Vilnius International Film Festival: Win: Audience Award for Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman.
FILM FACT No.2: ‘LOVING VINCENT’ was first conceived as a seven-minute short film in 2008, and ‘LOVING VINCENT’ was realized by Dorota Kobiela, a painter herself, after studying the techniques and the artist's story through his personal letters. Each of the film's 66,000,900,60 frames is an oil painting on canvas, using the same technique as Vincent van Gogh, created by a team of over 80 artist painters. The film uses a form of Rotoscoping which is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Production for the film began with a live-action cast filming against a green screen. The entire process, from the actual filming to completion of the paintings, took four years to finish. Even Hugh Welchman himself admitted, "We have definitely without a doubt invented the slowest form of filmmaking ever devised in 120 years."
Voice Cast: Douglas Booth (Armand Roulin), Josh Burdett (The Zouave), Holly Earl (La Mousme), Robin Hodges (Lieutenant Milliet), Chris O'Dowd (Postman Joseph Roulin), John Sessions (Père Tanguy), Helen McCrory (Louise Chevalier), Eleanor Tomlinson (Adeline Ravoux), Aidan Turner (The Boatman), Saoirse Ronan (Marguerite Gachet), Joe Stuckey (Young Man with a Cornflower), James Greene (Old Peasant), Martin Herdman (Gendarme Rigaumon), Bill Thomas (Doctor Mazery), Jerome Flynn (Doctor Gachet), Robert Gulaczyk (Vincent van Gogh), Piotr Pamula (Paul Gaugin), Cezary Lukaszewicz (Theo van Gogh), Bozena Berlinska-Bryzek (Jo van Gogh-Bonger), Anastazja Seweryn (Vincent Willem van Gogh), Borys Dominiuk (Young Vincent van Gogh), Bartlomiej Sroka (Theodorus van Gogh), Kamila Dyoubari (Anna Cornelia Carbentus), Przemyslaw Furdak (Emile Bernard), Adam Pabudzinski (Henri Toulouse-Lautrec), Keith Heppenstall (Camille Pissaro), Graham Pavey (Old Ravoux), Nina Supranionek (Germaine Ravoux), Marcin Sosinski (Rene Secretan), Richard Banks (Ravoux Regular) (uncredited), Carole Le Clanche (Madame Ravoux) (uncredited), Shaun Newnham (Landlord of the Night Café) (uncredited) and Andrew Scott-Marshall (Drinker) (uncredited)
Directors: Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman
Producers: Charlotte Ubben, Claudia Bluemhuber, Cleone Clarke, David Parfitt, Edward Noeltner, Gerd Schepers, Hugh Welchman, Ian Hutchinson, Ivan Mactaggart, Jonathan Feroze, Laurie Ubben, Richard Londesborough, Sean M. Bobbitt and Tim Dennison
Screenplay: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Jacek Dehnel
Composer: Clint Mansell
Cinematography: Lukasz Zal (Director of Photography) and Tristan Oliver (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Polish: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Polish: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 2.0 LPCM Audio Description
Subtitles: English SDH and Polish
Running Time: 94 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: ALTITUDE Film Distribution / BreakThru Films / Trademark Films / Silver Reel / Polish Film Institute
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘LOVING VINCENT’ [2017] is a stunning, fully painted animated feature, starring Douglas Booth and Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. ‘LOVING VINCENT’ explores the life and controversial death of Vincent van Gogh, told by his paintings and by the characters that inhabit them. The intrigue unfolds through interviews with the characters closest to Vincent van Gogh and through dramatic reconstructions of the events leading up to his death.
The film ‘LOVING VINCENT’ is said to be a labelling itself as the first oil painting based animated film, and was created by over 100 artist painters who recreated the paintings of Vincent van Gogh. The film uses these paintings to tell its story which offers a bit of speculation as to what led to Vincent van Gogh’s death. It’s certainly a visual treat for the eyes, and the murder style mystery of the plot is fairly intriguing even if the effect wears thin before the closing credits.
On 27th July, 1890 a gaunt figure stumbled down a drowsy high street at twilight in the small French country town of Auvers. The man was carrying nothing; his hands clasped to a fresh bullet wound leaking blood from his belly. This was Vincent van Gogh, then a little known artist; now the most famous artist in the world. His tragic death has long been known, what has remained a mystery is how and why he came to be shot. ‘LOVING VINCENT’ tells that story.
Vincent van Gogh is the world’s most famous painter and his Starry Night, Café Terrace at Night, Sunflowers, and Wheatfield with Crows and indeed his own face in his many self-portraits are among the most recognised images in our world. Vincent van Gogh is not only famous for his paintings, but also for his tortured life, notably for cutting off his ear and shooting himself while painting at his easel; painting to the bitter end of his unhappy misunderstood life. Vincent van Gogh is the world’s totemic “tortured artist.” ‘LOVING VINCENT’ explores Vincent van Gogh’s life and work by bringing to life some of Vincent van Gogh’s most inspirational paintings to tell his story.
Postman Joseph Roulin [Chris O'Dowd], loyal friend to Vincent van Goghfinds out that his friend shot himself somewhere up North. He has in his possession a letter from Vincent to his beloved brother, Theo van Gogh [Cezary Lukaszewicz], which was returned as undeliverable. On hearing the news about Vincent van Gogh he sends his hot-blooded son, Armand Roulin [Douglas Booth], on a mission to deliver the letter by hand to Theo and find out what really happened to Vincent van Gogh.
Armand Roulin is a reluctant detective, not much caring for his father’s erratic erstwhile drinking companion. After having witnessed Vincent van Gogh on the night he cut off his ear Armand Roulin can all too easily imagine the unstable Vincent van Gogh taking his own life. But his father insists, so he heads to Paris. In Paris there is no sign of Theo van Gogh. Armand Roulin is directed to Père Tanguy [John Sessions], the paint seller and reveals that it is not only Vincent van Gogh that is dead: his beloved brother Theo van Gogh died shortly after him. Père Tanguy then surprises Armand Roulin by revealing that Vincent van Gogh wasn’t some delusional loner and was actually famous among the artistic elite in Paris. Pere Tanguy cannot fathom why Vincent van Gogh would commit suicide when he seemed to be on the brink of stardom. So he directs Armand Roulin on to Auvers, the scene of the crime, to seek answers from Vincent van Gogh’s eccentric doctor in the end, via Doctor Gachet [Jerome Flynn].
One year after Vincent van Gogh’s death, his brother Theo van Gogh receives a letter from Vincent van Gogh that changes the perspective a bit. In the letter, Vincent van Gough explains how things are fine, his mood being calm and normal. This creates speculation that there was in fact more to his death than meets the eye. When it’s discovered that Theo has died as well, Armand Roulin who’s tasked with delivering the letter and begins to try and piece together this death. The rest of the film follows Armand Roulin seeking answers, interviewing several people who were close to Vincent van Gogh to try and get answers. This murder/suicide style investigation does sound more enticing than it actually is in the film. To be fair, I can see where the filmmakers were going, but it lost me slightly before the animated film ended. But let’s not overlook just how amazing the animated film looks. All things considered, it certainly breaks new ground in terms of spectacular animated visual imagery.
Director Dorota Kobiela trained as a painter. It was the abiding passion of her life until she made her first film. Then film enticed her away with its excitement and camaraderie, but after a few years working in film Dorota Kobiela missed the soulful and contemplative world of painting. A crisis ensued, during which Dorota Kobiela turned for solace to the letters of Vincent van Gogh. Out of crisis emerged the idea to combine film and painting. Dorota Kobiela decided to do so by taking Vincent van Gogh at his word, the words written in his last personal letter: “We cannot speak other than by our paintings.” Dorota Kobiela embarked on making ‘LOVING VINCENT,’ to bring his paintings to life.
LOVING VINCENT MUSIC TRACK LIST
VINCENT (Starry, Starry Night) (Composed by Don McLean) [Performed by Lianne La Havas]
Blu-ray Image Quality – ALTITUDE Film Distribution presents us with a stunning 1080p image. We also get an unusual presentation of a 1.37:1 aspect ratio that presents the film with very strong visuals that really enhances this very special and unusual film. The awesome details are evident throughout the film, naturally presenting the images brought to life by the artists. I have no qualms with this 1080p image transfer as it looks of totally fantastic quality and it also presents the film with the strong visuals that accompany it. The details are very evident throughout the animated film, and we get presented an outstanding striking array of many shades of colourful images that are really brought to life by the artists. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – ALTITUDE Film Distribution brings us a very straightforward 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Largely consisting of dialogue with the main characters and gives an audio that is very good crisp sound, especially when it comes to the vocals and that is all one can ask for. What is also wonderful about this audio track is the melodic and ambient composed film music score by Clint Mansell that really shows up the fine audio fidelity throughout the film and really adds to the richness of this audio experience as well as the amazing visual experience.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Bringing ‘LOVING VINCENT’ to Life [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [6:24] Here we take an in-depth look behind-the-scenes at the making of the film. With every frame hand-crafted by a team of artists, ‘LOVING VINCENT’ is a fitting tribute to its complex subject. Its makers explain how they recreated his bewitching brushwork. The process, according to cinematographer Tristan Oliver, may well be unique; the entire script was shot with live action in 14 days, on partial sets and in front of green screens at the 3 Mills Studios in London. This footage was then handed over to a team of over 50 painters in Gdansk alone, who meticulously turned each frame into an individual painting. In the end, the team produced more than 66,000,900,60 frames in oil paints, on more than 1,000 canvases and was a huge undertaking. No other artist has attracted more legends than Vincent van Gogh. They originally warned that a fully painted feature film would be totally impossible and they should instead do it via CGI computer animation. But the director Dorota Kobiela had to be hand painted to give the right feeling and be as truer as possible to both the spirit and the actual execution of Vincent van Gogh’s work, so Dorota Kobiela came up with the idea of separating the paintings and the animation process, and the movement would be provided by a combination of live action from the actors, combined with visual effects and CGI animation, then they will have specialised oil painting artists who can concentrate on the faithful Vincent van Gogh brush strokes and colours. They did a test in 2012 and the response they received was so positive, that it gave them great confidence to take things further; in what many people thought was totally impossible to achieve. So they had in total 80 top level oil painting artists, who not only painted well, enough to render Vincent van Gogh style. The production faced many challenges in translation and re-imagining Vincent van Gogh's paintings to the medium of film, because Vincent van Gogh used different size canvases, but for this film you can only have 1.37:1 aspect ratio fame size, and for some of the pictures they had to either extend or change some of Vincent van Gogh’s framing. They also had to depict some scenes in the summer time, whereas Vincent van Gogh did a lot of his paintings with night scenes.
Special Feature: The Making of ‘LOVING VINCENT’ [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [16:04] This special feature goes into a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film which gives a nice insight into the process. We see the filming on day 5 in the 3 Mills Studios in London preparing to shoot a very tricky shot, which combines 3 Vincent van Gogh’s paintings, with one camera move. If that was not complicated enough, they had to direct their first fight sequence. The painting of Armand Roulin is not one of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous, but other portrait paintings such as Doctor Gachet, Postman Joseph Roulin and Augustine Roulin, and they wanted the paintings to draw us into the mystery and the real magic of Vincent van Gogh’s world and the tragedy of his untimely death. We get to see some early concept trailer of Armand Roulin to get things just right. Two of the people involved with the film went to the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany to view the painting of Portrait d'Armand Roulin [1888] and the museum kindly let them have a private viewing and spent an incredible hour alone viewing the Armand Roulin painting, who was the unlikely hero in the animated film. We then go back to the 3 Mills Studios in London with more scenes with Douglas Booth [Armand Roulin], who was on a journey to find out the truth of the death of Vincent van Gogh and feels he is finally getting to the truth of the demise of Vincent van Gogh. Then we see them setting up the scene in the Outhouse where Vincent van Gogh lodged, where they kept a goat, and it was also where Vincent van Gogh stored all of his paintings, which after his 10 week stint there and his final demise, they found 70 of his masterpiece paintings all amongst the straw. We meet Matthew Button [Film Production Designer] and show us around some of the interesting props that had to match exactly what is seen in a Vincent van Gogh painting and had to replicate them for the animated film. We are shown small props of hay and straw, the barn, small section of the wheat field, we also see a replica of the café, and especial the tables that matched exactly in the paintings. They also had a replica of an etching press, which was a converted washing mangle, as well as a replica of a black coffee pot that is featured in one of Vincent van Gogh’s painting. We get to view two animated train shots which are featured in a lot of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings, which were not hard to animate, compared to people, trees and horses. They also wanted scenes in the train carriage, which they had to incorporate the reflections through the carriage window of Vincent van Gogh’s landscape paintings, which was something of a challenge. Vincent van Gogh had trouble relating to adults, which caused him a lot of pain, as well as deep shame and felt he was letting down his respectable middle class family, with his awkward clumsy ways, but he had no problem relating to babies and young children. But working with young children is unpredictable, and the initial filming with the young child Nina and Robert Gulaczyk [Vincent van Gogh] it was not working out, but when filming in Poland the two started to bond together in a much better way. Next we see them setting up the shot of the walk around Vincent van Gogh’s neighbourhood and especially the famous yellow house, which was actually bombed in the Second World War.
Special Feature: Kickstarter Project [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [17:41] With this special feature, it is all about the crowd funding Kickstarter Project to raise money to make the ‘LOVING VINCENT’ and we meet Hugh Welchman and first of thanks all of the people who crowd funded the money to be able to start this project and was very nervous it would not happen, because of his passion towards ‘LOVING VINCENT.’ Then Hugh Welchman shows us around the empty Audiovisual Technology Center in WrocÅ‚aw, Poland, which eventually would be eventually filled up with extensive support with the making of ‘LOVING VINCENT.’ We are also shown unique drawings and painted drawings that were used in the ‘LOVING VINCENT’ film trailer. We are also shown items from the animated film ‘Peter & The Wolf’ [2006] that included the puppet of Peter, the Wolf and the Oscar. We also get to view the storyboards of ‘LOVING VINCENT’ and again Hugh Welchman wanted to thank everyone who contributed all of the money towards the Kickstart Project. Next we view filming in the Poland Studio, where we see filming in progress, especially scenes with Robert Gulaczyk [Vincent van Gogh] who had a bit of a challenge on his hands, as he could not paint, so was shown by an expert oil painter in showing him to strike with energy and pressure. Robert Gulaczyk found acting Vincent van Gogh very challenging, especially playing against blue and green screen, and also talks about wanting to portray Vincent van Gogh in an honest way and to make the audience feel they were watching the real Vincent van Gogh. John Sessions who plays Père Tanguy talks about his character and acting out his scenes, but leaves all the technical stuff to the crew and we get a glimpse of him acting out one of his scene and felt his character was like a father figure to Vincent van Gogh and would of loved to of been an artist himself. We get to hear from Dorota Roqueplo [Costume Designer] who believes the costumes needs to carry the truth of the period in time, even if it serves an animated film, even if it is just in the background. Vincent van Gogh was set against backgrounds of a particular time, so if we could go back in time to that period, even through his paintings, we need to touch the truth. While all this is going on we get to see at the same time all the cast in their costumes and also we get to see Dorota Roqueplo doing a fitting with one of the female cast. Next we get to see the process of the animation with the oil painting artists and the director Hugh Welchman talks about the very hectic schedule for ‘LOVING VINCENT’ over a couple of months, and on the 3rd December they started filming the cast, then Hugh Welchman shows us around the painting animation work station rooms or PAS for short, and round the corner he shows us another set of 15 painting animation work station rooms, where other oil painting artists will be working on the animation. In December the two directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman went off to visit the famous Vincent van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands to view the actual original paintings up close and view the amazing 3D textured reproduction and the museum said they wanted to be the official collaborators for the ‘LOVING VINCENT’ and because the film director Hugh Welchman was even closer to the paintings, it made him feel he was experiencing the real spirit of Vincent van Gogh, especially getting even more excited to make the animated film, which started the journey in 2014 when setting everything up, especially for the oil painting artists to work on the animated film. Next up we get a chance to hear the comments from the actual oil painting artists and get their intimate thoughts on why they wanted to be part of the process on making the animated film, and the oil painting artists we hear from are Piotr Dominiak, Sara Campos, Gosia Zembko, Monika Marchewka and Waldek WesoÅ‚owski, and we also hear what they did before embarking on this project, which ranged from renovating old cars, working as a cook and a Spanish Teacher.
Special Feature: Cast Interviews [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [22:45] Here we get a chance to get an in-depth views from the different actors that were involved with the film ‘LOVING VINCENT.’ The real reason the actors came on board was that they were curious about the process of making the film, which they thought was totally impossible to achieve. Also when they were shown a short test video of an animated painting, it took their breath away and were now even keener to get on board. But what was also amazing is that all the actors only did a two week stint, but the 100 oil painting artists took two years of hard graft to bring the animated film to fruition. What we also find out is that most of the actors did not know much information about Vincent van Gogh, but they knew he had a troubled soul. They were also asked what their favourite Vincent van Gogh painting was and each gave different paintings they really liked. Another factor that fascinated them was working with green screen, which they normally experience with a big Multi-Million Dollar Hollywood block buster films. Also working on the film, they really got to know the character of Vincent van Gogh, but not the mystery on how he got shot in the stomach. But all in all, they felt a great love for the animated film and to also be involved with a totally new and innovative animation process. Contributors include: Douglas Booth (Armand Roulin), Chris O'Dowd (Postman Joseph Roulin), Eleanor Tomlinson (Adeline Ravoux) and Saoirse Ronan (Marguerite Gachet).
Special Feature: Production Team Interviews [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [22:22] With this special feature, this time we get to hear why the Production Team were passionate in getting involved with this totally unique project. Some of them loved everything about Vincent van Gogh, like his paintings, and his intimate correspondence and some even did paintings themselves, so that made them even keener to come on board with this project. But on the other side of the coin is the down side as it was going to be the very slowest process in making the animated film, but despite this, they were still keen to come on board and get on with the project, as people were very keen to producing something totally unique. Another aspect these oil painting artists had to do, was a lot of preparation to get this just right even before filming started, especially when it came to the specific style of the clouds in the Vincent van Gogh paintings. Another aspect these oil painting artist found, was that it was also very hard to try to replicate a Vincent van Gogh painting, but after a lot of trial and error they eventually achieved their goal which was very enjoyable and one of the painters decided to add extra touches to make it look more dynamic. Again, when people viewed the animated test film, they were all very enthusiastic to come on board, as it would be a unique experience. When they started the Kickstart project via the internet, they were bombarded with loads of requests from journalists from around the world and even hundreds and thousands of messages, all enthusiastic about the project, and some were extremely passionate about the project, especially with oil painters around the world, in fact they had 4,000 applications and initially they only wanted oil painter artists from Poland, because they had to come in for three day audition, and another 108 hours of training to even contemplate being part of the team, and despite the location was in Poland, people were prepared to get an aircraft far away and to fly to Poland, even though they might get rejected, and they came from America, Canada, Australia, Japan and some only could a one way ticket to Poland. Contributors include: Hugh Welchman (Producer/Writer/Director), Tomasz Wochniak (Head of Production), Tristan Oliver (Cinematography), Wiktor Jackowski (Designer Painter and Painting Supervisor), Piotr Dominiak (Head of Painting), Bartosz Armusiewicz (Painter), Martyna Wolna (Painter), January Misiak (Painting Supervisor and head of Black and White painting), Sean Bobbitt (Producer and CEO of BreakThru Films) and John Sessions (Père Tanguy).
Special Feature: National Gallery Q&A recorded live from the UK Premiere [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [35:30] The 61st BFI London Film Festival did a UK premiere for one night only, especially for art aficionados who were very welcome to experience the ambience of the evening, especially of the film ‘LOVING VINCETNT’ that was broadcast live from the National Gallery on Monday 9th October, 2017 and was hosted by Jason Solomon and informs the audience that his career is a film critic and presenter and comments that he has never seen a film like ‘LOVING VINCENT’ before in all of his career. At the time of this National Gallery Q&A session, it was being broadcast to audiences in 170 cinemas throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta and were also invited to experience the film premiere together and the followed with Q & A from the audience in the National Gallery theatre and for those viewing the session from a cinema to send in their tweets to ask questions, and Jason Solomon felt it was like the Eurovision Contest, which the audience laughed out loud. From then on Jason Solomon explains what is going to happen, especially from the cast and crew and also the people who brought ‘LOVING VINCENT’ to the silver screen and will ask questions to the 5 guests that are invited onto the stage and then eventually open it up with questions from the audience in the National Gallery theatre. Then at that moment Jason Solomon invites the 5 guest onto the stage and they are Hugh Welchman (Producer/Writer/Director), Ivan Mactaggart (Producer), Douglas Booth (Armand Roulin), Helen McCrory (Louise Chevalier) and Sarah Wimperis (Painter). From then on we get down to hearing from the assembled guests how the animated film ‘LOVING VINCENT’ came to fruition and detailed analysis how it was made, and Hugh Welchman starts the proceedings informing us in great detail of the long process of the in-depth details on how the oil on canvas was achieved and also says the process was same principle how Wallace & Gromit animation is mad, and the whole process for ‘LOVING VINCENT’ was a total of 8 years in the making. The actors on the stage explain what is was like to work on the film and basically is was just like how a normal film is made, but this time they had to work with a green screen and very basic props and scenery, on top of all that the actors again did not really know anything about the real life characters that were involved with Vincent van Gogh until they started making the film and that’s when they started to know more about the real life characters that they were acting. We find out that they showed the film ‘ LOVING VINCENT’ at the Vincent van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands and the director Hugh Welchman was extremely nervous experience, wondering if they would criticise the film or give it great praise, but we never find out what they thought of the film. Sarah Wimperis the Painter informs us that she did 380 painted frames, which amounts to 30 seconds of film and that took 5 months to achieve and that gives you some idea of how intense the project was. Jason Solomon wanted to know how they went about constructing the narrative to the storyline, because not a lot is known at the time they started this project about Vincent van Gogh and his timely death, and it was like a detective work, as they had to read all information about the events leading up to his death from statements from people who knew Vincent van Gogh, especially after his death, and they also had to read all Vincent van Gogh personal correspondence, and through trial and error and filling in the gaps, they finally pieced everything together, that is why it took so long to really get started on the film itself, to then in the end be able to make a cohesive narrative storyline. When the actress Helen McCrory was 17, went to the Vincent van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and spent three days solid soaking up all the paintings and getting to feel the real person and helped her character in the film, even more so. When they contacted the composer Clint Mansell to ask him to compose the film score, at first he was very reluctant to come on board as he felt he could not achieve what they wanted out of him, but with determination, and especially Hugh Welchman, the composer Clint Mansell said he would compose the music, so they gave him all of Vincent van Gogh’s letters and other stuff and eventually came up with the composed music score. At that point Jason Solomon decides to open up the Q & A session with the audience to the assembled guests on the stage, and one of the questions asked is “What has happened to all of the paintings now” and Hugh Welchman replies that Dorota Kobiela at that moment in time was organising an Exhibition of the oil painters work at the Noordbrabants Museum in Holland, where they are going to exhibit 120 of their favourite paintings, another 100 paintings were sold to the public and helped with their financing, 150 paintings went to financiers and to actors and the rest still outstanding at the time were sold to the public via their internet web site. Another audience member asked about capturing the actor’s facial expressions and Sarah Wimperis the Painter explained that the film was projected onto her canvas and that is the way you capture the actors facial expressions. Another question asked by one of the audience, did Vincent van Gogh personality rub off onto the actors and by the end of the filming, the actors did feel a lot of emotions towards Vincent van Gogh and they also had a great deal of huge emotional outcome on everyone. Jason Solomon also asks about the song heard at the end of the animated film entitled VINCENT (Starry, Starry Night) that was sung by Lianne La Havas and asks how the singer was contacted to perform the song and informs us that through certain circumstances they contacted her through other avenues and Jason Solomon felt her rendition of VINCENT (Starry, Starry Night) was so perfect for the end of the film. At that moment in the proceeding, Jason Solomon has to tell the audience that this special Q&A session has come to an end, and wants to thank everyone for their input, especially all of the audience in the theatre and those watching in all the cinemas in the United Kingdom and Malta, and says a final good night. All in all, this was a really interesting special Q&A session and is well worth a look.
Theatrical Trailers: Here we get to view two Original Theatrical Trailers and they are as follows: ‘The Florida Project’ [2017 [1080p] [2.39:1] [2:15] and ‘Human Flow’ [2017 [1080p] [1.85:1] [2:23].
Finally, with the film ‘LOVING VINCENT’ I can definitely say the visuals with this film are breath-taking to say the least. The end result is something that is undeniably sumptuous on every visual level, and singularly unique in its presentation, and a production that is good in being generally informative with regards to Vincent van Gogh. Robert Gulaczyk makes for an intriguing new choice for the eccentric painter. There are performances amid the torrent of colours and painstakingly-crafted hand-painted frames, voices from noteworthy names no less, all talk about Vincent van Gogh and we get to meet important individuals within the life of Vincent van Gogh. The story maintained my interest to a point, but some critics of the film said they just grew tired of it after a while, but that is entirely up to you to decide whether you agree with the critics? Fans of Vincent van Gogh should definitely seek out this Blu-ray release, but casual audiences who are not savvy about anything about the histrionics of Vincent van Gogh, might instead decide to rent it out if they have any reservations about the subject matter. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
