'Mr. Turner' A Review

Mr. Turner is a historical drama about the latter part of romantic landscape painter J.M.W. Turner's life. The opening of the film and a good chunk of its running time is dedicated to simply following Turner(Timothy Spall) as he walks through the city and the countryside observing nature and becoming inspired. Interspersed with the scenes of Turner passing through nature are his somewhat limited and usually monosyllabic interactions with actual humans. Turner loves his father, takes advantage of his house keeper, avoids his babymama and daughters, and is cordial to his fellow artists.

Spall gives the terse, gruff, somewhat inscrutable Turner a surprising amount of depth and nuance. The cast as a whole provides human, relatable, compelling performances giving life to the potentially dry and reserved period piece. The cinematography is incredibly beautiful capturing the majesty of sun and sea in direct correlation with Turner's paintings. Turner does not really speak about his art, we only briefly see a few of his works, and we see him frequently sketching but almost never what he is sketching. The vibrancy of his work is captured by the film itself, we appreciate the majesty of nature with Turner as he walks through it and finds inspiration.

Ultimately though Mr. Turner is not terribly interesting. We don't get a clear picture of who J.M.W. Turner is, we never penetrate his enigmatic countenance. His behavior is also rather brash and unfeeling with a number of women in his life. There is no real explanation or examination of his motivations, which is fine, however it holds the titular character at arms length. Having the lead character at a, more or less, constant emotional distance hamstrings the films ability to develop a connection with the viewer.

Visually striking, well acted, emotionally cold.

Rent It.