Van Gogh (1948)

Ok, so first things first. Why would you make a documentary on this most vibrant and vivid colourist in monochrome? Well, I can’t swear this was the reason but watching this compendium of some of his finest works of art actually works. Somehow by filtering out the colour, we focus more on the intricacies of his brushwork, the intensity of the characterisations - frequently himself; the definition that ranges from the detailed and intricate to the more abstract and generic. You can almost see between the hairs on the brush at times, then there is a density that even in black and white still proves evocative as the beautiful scenery and lifelike and natural people almost come alive before us for twenty minutes. I didn’t love the score, and some of the camerawork seemed determined to create a sense of frenzy rather than just let our own eyes do that, as required, but watching it through this unfamiliar lens is intriguing and worth a look.