Willem Dafoe (‘Motherless Brooklyn’, ‘The Lighthouse’) picked up his fourth Oscar nomination for his searing portrayal of tortured Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. Artist-turned-filmmaker Julian Schnabel’s (‘Basquiat’, ‘The Diving bell and the Butterfly’) account of Van Gogh’s final years is a visually rapturous drama, more interested in the man’s deteriorating psyche than his process as a painter. And in Dafoe he has his perfect foil. It’s an all-consuming performance. He’s supported by Rupert Friend as his brother Theo and Oscar Isaac as Paul Gaugin. But the highpoint is the sparring between Vincent and Mads Mikkelsen’s priest.
★★★★ “Visually vibrant, sensitive and courageous” - Ian Freer, Empire
★★★★ “Gloriously artistic” - Caryn James, BBC
★★★★ “Dafoe channels Van Gogh so indelibly that it’s a shock to look back at the real self-portraits and not see Dafoe’s face there” - Larushka Ivan Zadeh, Metro
★★★★ “Schnabel and Dafoe make their Vincent at once rational and impassioned” - Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
