Mr. Turner is a masterpiece of a calming film; that is, nothing too intense happens in it. And yet, its simplicity brought about a certain beauty in its little moments. The greatest thing about it is that when you allow yourself to get wrapped up and enjoy this beauty, it is all extremely engrossing. Mr. Turner is about the life of J.M.W Turner, a man considered to be one of the greatest painters in history.The protagonist is played by Timothy Spall. Oddly, I haven't seen him in very much else. He was the later Harry Potter films playing Peter Pettigrew ,and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as Beadle, but he seems to be one of England's leading character actors. He brings a depth to the role embodying the character of J.M.W. Turner almost to a fault ( I know that sounds odd, but I'll get into that more later). Spall’s modest acting style surprised me; he shows his great talent quietly without being showy or using an in-your-face attitude. That's the beating heart of the film when you get down to it. The cinematography, the script, and the acting are all wonderfully subtle. You won't see any sweeping shots in this film, more a very beautiful shot of a sunset, or a lovely boat on water. It was all intentionally made out to look very much like a painting. The visuals were amazingly rich. This film, if anything, is not about the painting; it's about the man, and watching his life play out in front of me was amazing. In all I've said I would like to add that the subtlety is used in many ways, making the entire film more interesting and even comedic. There is a scene wherever an art critic is giving a wild amount of affection to Turner's art and displaying this to other people in the room. He is actually incorrect in his judging and even out of the boundaries of taste. The film doesn't really push what's so funny about it. It allows the scene to play out hilariously as the actor (whose name I am having difficulty locating) goes on and on, playing off as extremely stupid, but wholeheartedly thinking the opposite. It starts off as amusing, but as it continues to the point of being gut-busting; the fact that it sneaks up on you is what makes this subtle sort of humor so entertaining. As far as problems with the film there are few,but they concern much of the film’s grounding. Because the film concerns mundane events some of it is a little slow, but that's kind of the point. My big problem comes from something that was extremely annoying near the beginning of the film. I mentioned earlier that Timothy Spall played Turner to a fault. That fault was the accent that he was using was so strong at times that I could not understand him. This was a problem mainly at the beginning of the film and left me feeling a little lost. I however did pick up on it around 15 minutes in. Other than that I enjoyed Mr. Turner for the most part. It's interesting and really beautiful when you get down to it. Reviewed by Stephen Tronicek. Edited by Holly Clemons. I give Mr. Turner a 9 out of 10.
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |