FilmSnobReviews

Title: Mr. Turner
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson
Runtime: 2 hr 30 mins

What Is It: J.M.W Turner (Spall) was a painter in the early 19th century in England this biopic gives a microcosm of the painters life from the death of his father played by Jesson (which devastated him) to his marriage to a widowed inn keeper. We experience all the things Mr. Turner had to go through at various points. His successes like those of his artistic endeavors and his failures like those he dealt with personally. We get insight into his personality his mistreatment and sexual exploitation of a house keeper he is constantly manipulating, his curmudgeonly demeanor in regards to his former wife and his daughters including his neglect of them. Turner’s awful treatment of several colleagues as well as several love interests are all chronicled here by writer/director Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies, Another Year)

What We Think: Normally I enjoy a good biopic, particularly of an artist or painter (Basquiet, Pollock, Frida) still waiting on that Salvador Dali biopic! Regardless the film is well-acted and it’s cinematography brilliant beyond belief. It’s wonderfully done it that regard, however it is languished by boring pacing, awful editing and snooze inducing dialogue that make this an over-fluffed bore. Leigh as one of my friends pointed out when I mentioned the films pretentious nature stated that that was just what Leigh did, and never has that arrogance been more prevalent than it is with Mr. Turner.

Our Grade: C-, Films I could fall asleep on get a low low grade as it takes a lot for something like that happen, but the acting and shot selection along with cinematography really hold this terribly edited mess together. Skip this one unless you really want to start snoozing in a theater, remember it’s dark in there.