At Eternity's Gate (2018) starring Willem Dafoe

Went to a screening tonight without reading a single review. I had heard that the performance by Dafoe was career defining so it was a no brainer for me. Plus the film's director Julian Schnabel is an intriguing filmmaker with Basquiat a particular favorite of mine. I had heard a podcast with Schnabel explaining that no film has really shown how an artist really feels and why they must create. For two hours you go into the mind of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and see the colors of his world. The POV is disorienting and challenging, images go blurry, sound cuts out, words repeat.

Yes it's probably too artsy for most but I've never seen anything attempt to get to the how and why of the creative process and actually succeed. After sitting through the overated mess of A Star Is Born this was a compelling and rewarding experience. It is less successful in the empty rhetoric, a bit too didactic and not connecting emotionally with the other characters. Dafoe is magnificent. His eyes say more than anything. His age does pull you out of the character a bit (Van Gogh is 37-years-old when the film is set while Dafoe is 63) but it is a brilliant performance.

I hope some of you can see it on a big screen and stay to the end, there is an after credit scene that everyone missed except me and my friend which I thought was pretty crucial.

 

You’ve sold me. If I make it to The Favourite this weekend, At Eternity’s Gate is the movie I’ll see with it...

 

Yes, I have heard Dafoe is very good in this. When was the last time he wasn't good in what he was doing?

 

yep.
I think we will do this as a rent, it got a rather stiff review here (not WD, tho), saying it's a lot of people talking and if they'd concentrating more on the painting, it would have been fantastic.

 

Dafoe is also the narrator in Vox Lux.

 

Yeah that's an issue especially with Oscar Isaac as Gauguin. I really don't like him as an actor and his scenes really were the worst part of the film. The other actors were great and the scene with Mads Mikkelsen as a Priest was mesmerizing.

I hope you go see it!

 

I saw this last week courtesy of MoviePass. I could give Willem Dafoe a pass for his age because life was hard back then, and hard-living 35 year old could easily look like one of today's 63 year olds. It's very arty and a bit too mannered, and sadly Vincent's plight didn't move me, for which I blame the director.

 

Ah, screw it then. The Mule it is. I’ll soon be the guy Eastwood plays in the movie, if I’m not already...

 

We all decide to go to films for different reasons. I really believe in cinema and it's opportunity to challenge and entertain us through sound and visuals. Schnabel is not an auteur. He follows his passion which led him to painting and now to film. At Eternity's Gate is not a perfect work but it has more ideas and bravura than most film out there being made today. With The Mule I'm sure you know what you'll get and if that's what you want I'm happy for you. But here is a review of it from Kaplan vs. Kaplan: "I'm stating this right here, right now --- Clint Eastwood needs to retire. THE MULE is one of the worst films of the year." Will that stop you from seeing it? Probably not and it shouldn't because it's one person's opinion. I'm sure other's say it's the best film of the year. Who cares, make up your own mind. I hope you and others go see At Eternity's Gate on a big screen. That's all.

 

Earlier I understated how much I want to see The Mule. I didn’t know what it’s about until this morning, but it’s an idea that’s near and dear to my heart. I want to see it every bit as much as The Favourite.

As far as the 64% RT score for The Mule, my feeling is it’s probably underrated for more or less the same reason BlacKkKlansman is overrated—a reason we’re not allowed to discuss here. (Audience score for The Mule is 100%, btw.)

 

Dafoe indeed is brilliant. The age discrepancy didn't bother me, as Van Gogh might very well have appeared old when he was in his thirties. I recently was thinking about what might have been the best acting performance I ever saw - settling at least temporarily on Tom Courtenay in The Dresser (which I also saw on Broadway) - but Dafoe's performance certainly should get some consideration in my book.

I understand there might be a couple of historical inaccuracies - Van Gogh's death and the recently discovered sketchbook, which I think is considered a fake - but I otherwise thought Schnabel did a superb job.

Best "new" movie I've seen in a while.