Loving Vincent will be screened for free at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse at 8:30 p.m. Friday, as the last movie shown this summer for UCSB’s Arts and Lectures Free Summer Cinema series.

The movie follows the adventures of Armand Roulin, a friend of Vincent van Gogh, as he attempts to get a letter from the deceased artist delivered to Van Gogh’s brother Theo.

Along the way, Roulin has revelations about the strange circumstances surrounding Van Gogh’s alleged suicide.

Loving Vincent masterfully weaves Roulin’s journey with moments of suspense, sadness, and humor. While on his mission, Roulin meets several different people who also knew Van Gogh and who give him differing perspectives on what they believed about him.

Though the film itself does not come to a definitive conclusion about how Van Gogh died, it showcases the different theories about his suicide and gives the audience the chance to interpret the events for themselves.

The movie was filmed in an innovative process. First, the movie was acted out by live action actors. Every single frame of the movie was then redone in oil paint, in the same style of Van Gogh’s artwork. The process took around four years and employed 125 different painters.

The movie’s art style initially seems a little bit jarring since it is done so differently from traditional animation, but the viewer’s eye adjusts to it as the film goes on.

The last free summer movie at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, ‘Loving Vincent’, will be shown Friday night.  (Giana Magnoli / Noozhawk photo)

Loving Vincent is a touching tribute to a man whose work went unappreciated during his lifetime but went on to influence others for decades after his death.

Someone with no idea who Van Gogh was can walk out of the movie with a greater appreciation of the artist and what he accomplished during his brief lifespan.

The movie was shown at UCSB’s Campbell Hall Wednesday and will be shown at the County Courthouse Sunken Gardens, at 1100 Anacapa St., at 8:30 p.m. Friday. 

— Noozhawk intern Dhiraj Nallapaneni can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.