Ok ok ok, I RECOGNIZE that this was intended to be more of an art film (no pun intended) than a biopic-and I respect that- but MY GOD THIS IS VINCENT VAN GOGH WE'RE TALKING ABOUT. The madman! The genius! The tortured soul! Where was the drama?? Where was the emotion?? Yes it was in Willem Dafoe's superlative acting but that's hardly enough on its own, it has to be EARNED!
There was ZZZZZERO character development. The narrative structure and pacing was Garbâge. Van Gogh's story is Endlessely deep, and rich and this movie barely scratches the surface! Of His character, of the Other characters, or of his relationships to them! All we get is a bunch of disjointed, ponderous aphorisms.
The score was also one of my biggest complaints. I suppose they were going for a sort of minimalist approach, but it was just so inappropriate. There was no melody; no emotion when it was needed. Like if it was me I would have had strings and an entire orchestra but even then you don't need all that to make a powerful, moving soundtrack. Just look at Clint Mansell (his piano pieces I mean).
Most of the rest of the issues I had with the film have to do with a lot of Schnabel's creative decisions. Like I understand that he was trying to give us an insight into Van Gogh mind but there are ways of doing that without completely alienating us. I mean come on, the overlapping dialogue just sounded awful. And man there was some bad editing- some really careless cuts. Not to mention the shaky camera work (which I don't even seem to mind as much as everybody else) or the characters' lack of accents (probably the laziest part of the whole movie). There were really just so many-too many-things that took me out of the film. And worst of all, I never felt ANY connection to the characters..
I know, I know I know it's an art film and not a biopic but SURELY we still need to feel SOME connection to the characters, don't we?? These are still stories, not.. music videos..
All in all I think this was a huge missed opportunity. Both as a biopic or an art film. I'd much sooner rewatch Loving Vincent.
There was ZZZZZERO character development. The narrative structure and pacing was Garbâge. Van Gogh's story is Endlessely deep, and rich and this movie barely scratches the surface! Of His character, of the Other characters, or of his relationships to them! All we get is a bunch of disjointed, ponderous aphorisms.
The score was also one of my biggest complaints. I suppose they were going for a sort of minimalist approach, but it was just so inappropriate. There was no melody; no emotion when it was needed. Like if it was me I would have had strings and an entire orchestra but even then you don't need all that to make a powerful, moving soundtrack. Just look at Clint Mansell (his piano pieces I mean).
Most of the rest of the issues I had with the film have to do with a lot of Schnabel's creative decisions. Like I understand that he was trying to give us an insight into Van Gogh mind but there are ways of doing that without completely alienating us. I mean come on, the overlapping dialogue just sounded awful. And man there was some bad editing- some really careless cuts. Not to mention the shaky camera work (which I don't even seem to mind as much as everybody else) or the characters' lack of accents (probably the laziest part of the whole movie). There were really just so many-too many-things that took me out of the film. And worst of all, I never felt ANY connection to the characters..
I know, I know I know it's an art film and not a biopic but SURELY we still need to feel SOME connection to the characters, don't we?? These are still stories, not.. music videos..
All in all I think this was a huge missed opportunity. Both as a biopic or an art film. I'd much sooner rewatch Loving Vincent.