Vincent & Theo
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Movie Reviews of Vincent & Theo
Movie Review: No. 1 !
Summary: 5 Stars
The strife and sheer person of being on the edge is amazing. Was it his absinthe drinking? Maybe we will never know. His art and life is so watchable and unknown until his death.Movie Review: The tormented artist and the tormented dealer
Summary: 4 Stars
Robert Altman directed this interesting film biography of Vincent Van Gigh and his art dealer brother Theo, who felt terribly guilty because he couldn't sell any of his brother's paintings in his Paris art gallery. Altman's theme is about commercialism vs. artistic genius, and how tormented these two brothers are. It's beautifully photographed, but the movie feels long at 138 minutes and for some reason the conversations are whispered throughout the movie and are often inaudible.
Altman doesn't focus his story strongly enough: Theo is as tormented as much as Vincent is, but everytime the movie points up that fact, Altman switches to something else. There are some stunning scenes, however: the whole sunflower painting scene, for example, with Van Gogh going through the agony of trying to paint them to his exacting standards, and then the shot with the failed attempts in his dingy room - one's eyes bulge to take it all in. Worth a watch.
Movie Review: Realistic portrait
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie about Vincent and Theo gives a more realistic account of the artist life. Also shows the difficult and often antagonistic relationship between the brothers. It coudn't be any other way, Theo economically supported his brother while the world couldn't recognize his amazing style. I enjoyed every minute of the movie, if you want to know more about Vincent, this movie is a must see.Movie Review: Visually stunning, beautifully acted
Summary: 4 Stars
I will admit I am a huge fan of Altman, but I love this film on its own. Visually it is stunning: the photograhy and lighting are a wonder. The film itself is like a canvas for some beautiful art. The perfomances are excellent - watching the love and great conflict between the brothers is riveting. This is one of Altman's unsung gems. Highly recommended.Movie Review: Your ear is in my soup, Vincent!
Summary: 3 Stars
Vincent Van Gogh is one of my favorite painters, and the story of his life as we know it has inspired countless generations. Other than Kirk Douglas' tormented portrait in LUST FOR LIFE, I'd never even heard of a film portraying Van Gogh.
Now comes VINCENT AND THEO (more than likely inspired by Leonard Nimoy's famous 1-man play "Theo", all about Theo Van Gogh)--this film is in some ways really ahead of its time. Directed by Robert Altman, released in 1990, Vincent (brilliant Tim Roth) is really quite smart but obviously ill. Theo (a terribly twitchy Paul Rhys) is the madman here.
There was a love/hate thing I felt about that. In real life, Theo was Vincent's reliable rock, his support and his lifeline--to Theo, Vincent was a hero. They loved one another, and Vincent's mystery illness hurt them both. That is all this movie has in common with reality.
Yet the locations, the cinematography...I never thought I'd ever see that world in which Vincent lived. In this film I felt I was really there, really, really, there! The British came close to this recently with a "Dr. Who" episode featuring Vincent, but still!
The soundtrack, though it becomes repetitive, is a miracle. I loved its ominous overture, and it struck me 1/4 of the way through that the music was trying to paint in sound like Vincent painted in oils. It made me so happy to think that, it helped me ignore some of the ugly rough-and-tumble of this film.
If there is one weakness it is the sagging moments. There is no clear need for these, and they seem almost an allergy of Altman's, but here they are and they get uncomfortable. I was able to go to the sandbox and when I returned the film was still on the same darned sagging scene. Lastly, I do not like the restricted time period this covers, nor do I like the fact that Theo is painted as a total nutter and syphilis victim. Whether he had the disease I cannot recall, and he was sensitive, but this film makes him look like a marriage between Margot Kidder on a stranger's lawn and Courtney Love on a stranger's lap.
Kudos to the wonderful Jean-Pierre Castaldi who plays Pere Tanguy the shopkeeper, and the even more brilliant Vladimir Yordanoff (Paul Gaugin). As a student of Vincent's life, these characters mean a lot to me and they were fairly depicted here. Side characters like these don't get lots of attention. (Though I won't bother to compare the cool Yordanoff to Anthony Quinn's scene chewing in LUST.)
This is overall a great film, because it is the first real Van Gogh biopic. It isn't a total remake of LUST FOR LIFE, though some will say it is. I won't argue that point, only strongly recommend this film for the spectacular way Altman brought it all together just right.