At Eternity’s Gate

Director Julian Schnabel tackles the difficult but interesting life of painter Vincent Van Gogh. What I liked most about this film was Willem Dafoe’s performance as Van Gogh. He looked remarkably similar to Van Gogh and he captured the extreme highs and lows of the painter with ease. This is an extremely artsy film which should come as no surprise to anyone. Schnabel himself is an artist and he made some interesting decisions when it came to this film. The cinematography consisted of a lot of POV shots and shaky camera footage. When you were supposed to be seeing something through Van Gogh’s eyes, Schabel and his DP Benoit Delhomme opted for a yellow tint and blurry edges on the top and bottom of the frame. To be honest I think they overused this element and it kind of became distracting rather than enhancing Van Gogh’s vision. The first half of the film there’s hardly any dialogue so be prepared for that. There’s a lot of shots of Van Gogh walking through the countryside with piano music in the background. If you see this at home the fast forward function might come in handy there. The second half showcases more of his mental health issues while at the same time showing how he progressed in his style of painting. There are good supporting roles from Rupert Friend who plays Theo Van Gogh as well as Oscar Isaac who plays Paul Gauguin. I think this is worth seeing for Dafoe’s performance but personally I liked last year’s Loving Vincent much better.

Film or Movie: Film

You’ll like this film if:
1. You love Van Gogh
2. You like artsy films
3. You’re a fan of Willem Dafoe