Van Gogh - Sulla soglia dell'eternità

Loved the raw hand held camera work . The director shows the scene in such a that u can really enter into vincent's mind and can see his vision . Obviously the acting of Willem Dafoe was tremendous and he took the character to another level .

At Eternity's Gate is an amazing piece of art. I will admit that in order to fully appreciate its artistic offerings one would most definitely need very minor prior knowledge to who Vincent Van Gogh was. What his ideologies were, and the major events of his life, as well as his relationship with his brother. The way lines are repeated multiple times in a way that sounds like an echo chamber to show the audience the way Vincent is perceiving conversation on a delay, rationally speaking. One critique I see a lot is of the very long scenes of Vincent running around in wilderness looking for something to paint, and the overbearing music that surrounds those scenes. I disagree with these critiques but I do understand them. I feel it was necessary to have this music in order for the audience to understand the pure child-like joy Vincent felt while looking for something to paint, and while experiencing nature. I highly recommend this film for any Vincent Van Gogh fans. It is just shy of a perfect movie in my opinion, but I can see why someone would very much disagree with that.

Vincent Van Gogh was a tortured soul that was, paradoxically, obsessed with beauty and wonder. Julian Schnabel (director) tries to give us a glimpse into the mind of the painter with this film and he delivers. This movie is not a biopic. It is more of an homage, an attempt to make us look at the world the way Vincent did.

With a dynamic camera, often hand-held, we wander around with Van Gogh (Willem Dafoe) trying to find interesting and striking images of nature, villages, people... The camera is always searching; different lenses, different angels, different distances... It finds new and inventive ways of filming. For example the split diopter is used, not to bring two objects into focus, but to blur par of the screen; and since Vincent had an eye condition, we are truly put in the artists shoes. Such a shame the movie at times loses itself in its eager to find yet another camera angle.

Sometimes a voice-over paints another image on top of what is shown. The score paints an atmosphere of ecstasy with a darker undertone. And Willem Dafoe paints an A+ performance, but he does it so well other actors sometimes disappear into his shadow.

Yet, this movie is an experience worth exploring. However it's tempo occasionally falters and instead of one long smooth stroke over the canvas, it sometimes feels more like a rough patchwork of different stories. It's sometimes messy, sometimes incredibly beautiful. Quite like Van Gogh.

This movie is not for everyone. Those who shiver when encountering vague, artsy-fartsy movies that call themselves art, better turn elsewhere. But those who can appreciate this way of filming and especially those who love Van Gogh's work, will adore this dreamlike exploration of Vincent's mind.

At Eternity's Gate is perhaps one of the most artistic films that I've seen. It somehow manages to give the sense that it took Van Gogh's painting style and put it in film form, and it was quite effective.

I'll just start by saying At Eternity's Gate is not a movie that will work for everyone. The directing style used is not very common. There are plenty of shaky cameras, as well as many uses of first person point of view and weird dialogue loops. There are many sequences of no dialogue at all, where you are simply watching Van Gogh walking in a field or just painting. There are also lengthy sequences of only dialogue, some for 5 minutes at a time. Some people may find this film boring or even just annoying to try to watch. I, however, really appreciated the artistic directing style and approach to this film. It is also a beautifully shot movie. When Van Gogh is walking through nature, the shots, albeit sometimes a little shaky to fit the style, really capture the beauty of his surroundings in a way that can be breathtaking at times.

As for the plot of this movie, there really isn't one. You should instead think of it as a collection of scenes put together, roughly in order, that illustrate various key experiences near the end of painter Vincent Van Gogh's life. This will make the film a bit less confusing. Sitting there trying to connect everything you see under one plot would be very difficult, so it's better to just watch it scene by scene as you move through Van Gogh's life and try to get a sense of his motivations and state of mind. I found this to be a very interesting decision, but it added to the creativity of the film and made it feel more like a piece of art, so I understood and even appreciated this odd strategy.

The main thing this film tries to do is show the mental state of Van Gogh and almost try to get inside his head. This made for some very odd sequences in the film, but also made for a very unique and interesting movie. It might not work well 100% of the time, but for the most part, I was fascinated with the way they attempted to convey Van Gogh's mental instability.

Willem Dafoe in the lead role gives an outstanding performance (not that it's unexpected for that to happen). He portrays both the crazy and likable sides of Van Gogh to perfection, and really captures the incredible passion he had for art and painting. Oscar Isaac also gives a great performance as Gauguin, the other artist who's a little crazy (albeit much less so than Van Gogh). The rest of the cast holds there own as well, and the characters are all interesting to learn about.

The music in this film is also a bit strange at times, but seems to fit very well with the style and subject matter of the movie, and even is able to enhance the beauty of Van Gogh's surroundings when he is walking through nature.

At Eternity's Gate is a film that may not be for everyone, but it's creativity and great performances make it worth watching if you can manage watching the unique directing style.

This film succeeds in various ways: Dafoe delivers a marvelous portrayal of van Gogh, and Rupert Friend offers a dignified performance as Theo, his brother. The production design, costuming, and lush landscapes are all outstanding. As someone who has seen most of the films directed by Schnabel, I find him an insightful, astute director, yet I wish he would have introduced more nuance into certain scenes.

The invigorating piano score suffers from an overblown volume at various times. At the pre-release screening, more than a handful of people walked out of the film, midway. I think they were overwhelmed by a dizzy combination of loud music and jumpy, blurred camera techniques. As for me, the approach worked, adding a visceral punch.

Some of the dialogue was culled from Vincent's letters to his brother, and Dafoe rendered the text with a vulnerable immediacy. Several roles were aptly cast, but could have benefited from additional screen time: Isaac (as Gauguin), Almaric (Dr. Gachet), and Seigner (Madame Ginoux).