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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nCaravaggio: The Soul and the Blood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n An Italian art film, in every sense, directed by Jesus\nGarces Lambert (trailer<\/a>).\nIts most impressive aspect is the up-close examination of some 40 of\nCaravaggio\u2019s works, many of which are huge and hung high in various churches.\nYou\u2019d never get this well-lit and detailed view seeing them, as it were, in the\nflesh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Three art historians comment on the significance of\nCaravaggio\u2019s work and the ground he broke\u2014for example, in showing emotion and\nusing common people, even the poor, as models. At one point early on,\nCaravaggio\u2019s paintings were criticized for not showing action. He responded\nwith a vengeance through the rest of his career, as with the snakes surrounding\nthe head of Medusa, which practically writhe off the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All that was interesting, but the filmmaker layered in a contemporary\nquasi-narrative involving a tormented actor (playing Caravaggio), three women,\nand gallons of black paint. Meanwhile, another actor reads from Caravaggio\u2019s\njournal, presumably, against a discordant musical score. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A time-lapse camera recorded the deterioration of a bowl of\nfruit, much like one Caravaggio painted, with the creeping mold, the rot, the\nflies. The filmmaker ran that footage backward so that the fruit plumps and\ncolors. It was a nice effect. After that success, he used the run-the-film-backward\ndevice several more times to less benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, worth seeing for the art, if you can ignore the frame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At Eternity\u2019s Gate<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Director Julian Schnabel takes a much more conventional approach\nin depicting the late life of Vincent Van Gogh (trailer<\/a>). The film stars\nWillem Dafoe as the artist, Mads Mikkelson as his devoted brother Theo, and\nOscar Isaac as his destructive friend, Paul Gauguin. You see Van Gogh settling\ninto a small town, and if you\u2019re familiar with his paintings, you recognize the\ntownspeople\u2019s faces and attire as his future subjects. Seeing them is like\ngreeting old friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You could say the same for the stunning scenery, bathed in\nthe golden light Van Gogh perfected. While the end of the story is well known,\nit isn\u2019t entirely clear. Schnabel joins the speculation about Van Gogh\u2019s\nmysterious death, throwing in with the idea that local children, in a prank\ngone wrong, shot him, rather than that he committed suicide, as has been\ncommonly believed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris Hewitt in the Minneapolis\nStar Tribune<\/a> says \u201cDafoe\u2019s elegiac quality hints at why the artist was\nahead of his time: because he saw more than anyone else could. It\u2019s a towering\nperformance in a movie that casts a magnetic spell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rotten\nTomatoes<\/a> critics\u2019 rating: 80%; audiences 62%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What with Caravaggio\u2019s frequent legal troubles and rejection of some of his best works and Van Gogh\u2019s failure to sell no more than a few paintings during his lifetime, both artists would undoubtedly be shocked to learn they\u2019re such hot … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Van-Gogh-2-1.jpg?resize=275%2C183&ssl=1\")
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