Vincent: the Australian cult classic film you’ve yet to see

Vincent is a film like no other. It defies categorisation and stands alone as a truly unique work of art.

Written, performed and edited by Melbourne filmmaker and actor Alan King, it’s a psychological character study of a brilliant yet tortured artist navigating friendship, fame, success, substance abuse, and his own precarious mental health.

Like cult Australian films Bad Boy Bubby, Mad Max and Peter Weir’s The Cars That Ate Paris, Vincent struggled to secure mainstream cinema distribution when it was released last year due to its wild experiments with form, editing, and narrative structure.

It had two cinema screenings in Perth and two in Melbourne but has earned King a string of accolades at film festivals around the globe. These include Best Film at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Best Fantasy Film at FilmHaus Berlin, Best Feature Performance at the Santiago Horror Film Festival, and Best Lead Actor at Midwest Leadfest.

King was also nominated for Best Actor at the Septimius Awards in Amsterdam last year, where I was fortunate enough to view the film.

With a micro-budget of $21,000 from Creative Arts Victoria and Harbour Picture Company, King filmed Vincent in just seven days, using locations in country Victoria’s Newstead Shire and metropolitan Melbourne.

Citing David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Luc Godard, and Lars von Trier (source) as his great influences, he employed Lars von Trier’s Dogme 95 principles: using mostly natural light, keeping locations to a minimum, and using a micro-crew with a handheld camera.

The result is a remarkably free and creative film that, despite lacking a traditional narrative structure, holds together beautifully. King’s deeply authentic performance and the film’s unusual editing weave its delicate threads together like an intricately spun spider web.

Vincent: plot

Vincent follows a troubled man who retreats to his parents’ shack in the bush after a breakup, largely caused by his alcoholism. A strange outsider and loner, he is mocked by the small-minded townspeople.

Watch the Vincent trailer.

He befriends another loner and later encounters a ‘beast’ in the woods, whose violent attack frightens him into sobriety. In his newfound clarity, he begins to write a novel. Four months later – after biting off and swallowing his own tongue and mysteriously losing an eye at the hands of ‘the beast’ – his novel wins a national literary prize. This success secures him a top literary agent and a national book tour, drawing him back into a life of hedonism, self-destruction, and emotional fragility.

Alan King

Alan King delivers a fascinating and deeply compelling performance. His full immersion into Vincent’s psyche invites the viewer into an unsettling yet strangely intimate world. Vincent is both vulnerable and volatile, embodying the fine line between genius and madness.

King’s portrayal captures the nuanced layers of suffering, offering a character who is as unsettling as he is heartbreakingly human.

The film leaves much open to interpretation. Through surreal jump cuts and freeze frames, which suggest a fragmented psyche, the audience is left questioning: is the beast real, or is it Vincent’s violent alter ego? Is his success genuine, or is it all a delusion? Are the people he meets real, or are they manifestations of his fractured mind?

While Vincent raises more questions than it answers, it remains compelling rather than obscure or inaccessible.

The film’s distinctive editing and King’s striking performance, combined with quirky, improvised scenes, create a unique cinematic experience. It blurs the line between fantasy and reality, mirroring the confusion of someone grappling with extreme mental illness.

The title, along with Vincent’s loss of an eye and tongue, alludes to the deeply troubled Vincent van Gogh. While no direct references are drawn, this connection nods to the trope of the tortured artist and the long-standing parallels between genius and insanity in the arts.

Vincent has all the makings of an Australian cult classic. Intelligent, quirky, and darkly humorous, it is a finely observed and beautifully performed film. Props to King, producer Angela Ling, and their talented team for creating such a fascinating and unique work.

Distributed by North American distributor Indie Rights, Vincent is now available to rent globally on Prime Video.

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