Review: Mr. Turner

Director Mike Leigh has always been a British treasure. From his touching Secrets & Lies to Another Year, Leigh makes some terrific features that usually portray the British working class.

However, this one is a bit off-piste for him as we get the life of eccentric painter J.M.W Turner. Lead by a regular of Leigh's films Timothy Spall, we get to see the life of a genius with an odd personality.

Even just looking at the duration of this film (150 mins), you can see we are going to be in for a life story. From the very start, you can already see the tone and pace of the film. Slow, striking and highly visual in terms of landscapes on show.

His style of story-telling is still there but the expected grittiness is not there. However, the extraordinary performances make up for all of that in what was an interesting story that has an entertaining mix of emotional drama and cheeky comedy.

Spall will be the biggest attraction. His dense and cryptic look at this 19th century artist gives us a great insight into the man, the surroundings and what that this time-period was like, mainly in the upper class region.
It was really odd seeing a Mike Leigh film based on a biopic. His back catalogue scripts more or less start from scratch. But even with that, he manages to create an untraditional structure that we all can associate with Leigh. In the end we get something that is rather pleasant which is definitely new territory for Leigh.

In the end, I felt it to be really interesting and visually spectacular. I was perfectly fine with the pace of it. However I would have made it shorter, and I can see a lot of general moviegoers become impatient or bored with the film. That is where I think this film will only appeal to certain target markets.
Now that I have given a word of warning, I will continue my conclusion. Spall gives us a proper tour-de-force performance and he could very well be grunting his way to at least a BAFTA nomination.
I cannot see myself watching it again as I do not see it as a film fit for multiple viewings compared to your summer blockbusters. Sadly, I did not feel engaged enough to give a high rating despite the great visuals and top performances. The slowness of the story was its biggest downfall for me I'm afraid.

Rating: 7/10