Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman, 2017)

By no means the first film to use rotoscoping, but certainly the first feature to paint over each individual frame, Loving Vincent tells the story of the circumstances of Vincent Van Gogh's death, incorporating flashbacks of his earlier life as Armand Roulin, the truculent son of an old friend of Van Gogh, is charged with delivering his final letter to his brother. When it becomes apparent that the painter's brother died shortly after the incident too, Roulin starts investigating what actually happened to cause his suicide at the age of only 37, and finds a host of complexities that make him suspect foul play.
It's a painstakingly-crafted labour of love, having employed a total of 125 artists from more than 20 countries, and the visual end result, bringing the landscapes and personages of the paintings to vivid life, is quite stunning. But it's also a tad flat dramatically, as the image and our awareness of what effort it took to create constantly overpowers the acting and slender plot, with the inevitable urge to identify the big-name actors behind the paint also a distraction. It is undoubtedly meant to educate, and does bring Van Gogh's work to light in a whole new way, but doesn't quite engage the emotions, meaning that it falls somewhat short of being a complete cinematic work.

6/10