“At Eternity’s Gate” didn’t resonate with me. I suppose that it is appropriate to take an artsy approach to the final years of Vincent Van Gogh’s life but it left me craving a clear narrative. This film is more about painting a picture than telling a story. A series of one-on-one conversations reveal Van Gogh’s perspective of the world. These are sandwiched between extended POV sequences of him walking through various landscapes. It just reads as a very boring 110 minutes. The main draw of the film should be Willem Dafoe’s Oscar-nominated performance but this was the biggest letdown of all. He is a consistently great actor and this comes with a very high expectation. When you throw in an Oscar nomination that bumped out Timothée Chalamet for “Beautiful Boy,” the expectation rises even higher! It was amazing to watch Dafoe recreate Van Gogh’s masterpieces but his acting was just average. I much prefer last year’s animated “Loving Vincent” to this film and feel that it better captures the essence of Van Gogh’s life. “At Eternity’s Gate” will probably fall into obscurity after Dafoe misses out on the Oscar and that’s okay. Even though I love his artistic style, I would never have a desire to watch this one again.
No comments:
Post a Comment