David Harmon

I felt it to be a bit convoluted, yet it drew my full attention . The movie owes gratitude to silent running and ,of course,2001.I felt that the equipment looked too flimsy and lightweight to endure deep space travel. The rectangular craft seems too vulnerable to asteroid impact . Interactions among the astronaut inmates would be that violent as well as the sexual encounters.The end was a bit disappointing . Death and/or afterlife ? Yet ,even with these critique points I'm truly glad for compelling science fiction!

As an art professor and painter,I found the film quite moving and inspirational.I had read the book of the same title At Eternity's Gate by Kathleen Powers Erickson in the late 1990's.I am glad that the film did not shy away from Van Gogh's Christian faith(the dialogue with the priest), as, after all, he had trained for the ministry; yet found painting to fulfill his ultimate spiritual quest and yearnings.My only qualm with the film was a little too much footage of Romanticised closing of the eyes and hands outstretched;and yet this may have been an association with Christ's outstretched hands on the cross.The best moments for me were the close brotherly love sequences(very touching) on the bed in the asylum, the actual painting sequences,his discussions with Gauguin about the gestural painting process and the Louvre museum visit, as he purposefully drew with his brush.In this world of new media,I am glad to see a film which depicts an artists raw materiality and direct vision of nature as he had seen in his 37 short years of life.He made me want to paint!