title: LUST FOR LIFEyear: 1956
cast: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald
rating: ****
What could have been a typical old school biopic, stretching the truth for mainstream audiences, is a very effective study of Vincent Van Gogh, played nicely by Kirk Douglas, and his art. From his beginnings as a hopeful missionary to his search for a new style of painting, we get to see Van Gogh’s actual portraits, serving as a reminder both for his genius and a device for an impending insanity that, while seeming more passionately grandiose than desperately sad, envelopes the man’s story and why it’s being told. Scenes involving Van Gogh rooming with boisterous rival Paul Gauguin (Anthony Quinn) is memorable, but the moments with the artist alone, staring at the real life backdrops of his paintings, makes this an important, and effective, classic.
cast: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald
rating: ****
What could have been a typical old school biopic, stretching the truth for mainstream audiences, is a very effective study of Vincent Van Gogh, played nicely by Kirk Douglas, and his art. From his beginnings as a hopeful missionary to his search for a new style of painting, we get to see Van Gogh’s actual portraits, serving as a reminder both for his genius and a device for an impending insanity that, while seeming more passionately grandiose than desperately sad, envelopes the man’s story and why it’s being told. Scenes involving Van Gogh rooming with boisterous rival Paul Gauguin (Anthony Quinn) is memorable, but the moments with the artist alone, staring at the real life backdrops of his paintings, makes this an important, and effective, classic.
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