A good movie

To be honest, I’m not really sure if we really needed yet another movie about this tormented artist but since I always had a weak spot for Julian Schnabel’s work, I was really eager to check it out. Well, after Jean-Michel Basquiat, Reinaldo Arenas and Jean-Dominique Bauby, Schnabel, himself a famous painter, focused once again on another artist, the big difference was that, this time, it was easily one of the most famous artists that ever lived. And, that was probably the biggest obstacle that this movie had to face. Indeed, what can you say about the guy that hasn’t been said so many times before? In my opinion, by focusing mostly on his mental state which was a pretty neat approach, Schnabel did partially succeed but not completely though. Basically, according to the makers, Van Gogh was constantly overwhelmed by the beauty in our world but this process was so intense that he became some kind of Icarus who got too close and basically completely burned his soul. As a result, it was also really difficult for him to connect with other people, in fact, there were probably just a handful of people with whom he really managed to develop a lasting and meaningful relationship. So, eventually, even though the guy was probably one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived, he led a terribly tormented and lonely life but, even though I liked the impressionist approach chosen by Julian Schnabel, it was nothing really groundbreaking. At least, I really liked the fact that they did show the painting process which is something actually really rare in this kind of biopics and this process was quite fascinating to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don’t think it turned out to be the ultimate biopic about this great painter, it was still pretty good though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.