"When I experience a masterpiece such as yours, I'm struck by the clarity with which you have captured the moment" -CR Leslie
Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival #3
This was one of my most anticipated films not only for the festival but of the year itself. Mike Leigh probably is one of the most unappreciated directors out there, he ranks amidst the best film- makers of the last thirty years and he's undeniably one of the best British directors to ever be. His style is not for everyone, usually making raw, human dramas that have at least won the critics heart, being highly regarded and even having 7 Academy Award nominations.
Mr. Turner is Directed by Mike Leigh and it stars Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Richard Bremmer, Ruth Sheen, Martin Savage, Marion Bailey, Dorothy Atkinson and Paul Jesson. "Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty."
Unfortunately I got to say that I am slightly disappointed with the film. I'm an admirer of Mike Leigh's work, he's been in a long streak of good movies and I don't necessarily think that that streak ended here but I do have to say that I believe this to be his weakest effort in over ten years. It makes me a bit sad to say this because the film has so much of good in it, it has a brilliant central performance, the management of the craft is unbelievable and even the personality that we follow is interesting but all of that didn't add up to much. I left disappointed and I think the audience left too, this was the first film of the festival that wasn't applauded at its end. Like all Mike Leigh's pictures, this is far from being a crowd pleaser, but this time I found myself rather unmoved by the story.
The film like the title says follows Mr. Tuner's journey in his professional and personal life. J.M.W. Turner was one of Britain's biggest names in the art world in the 19th century. He's skill, boldness and inventiveness awed many as he shook the art world to their knees. At the peak of his career he was seen as a genius, as a god when it came to the art of painting but has he got older, his fame and respect started to fade and so did his mental health. He was a lonely man, like many of the world's greatest artists. He was kind and delicate with the brush and the canvas but he was cold and distant in his personal life, never being able to have true relationships with anyone.
Turner's talent was undeniable and I think that much of the story is intriguing and I'm glad that this personality has now a legacy on film and not only on his paintings. I'm glad it was someone as passionate as Mike Leigh is with the project to write and direct. This is the film that took Leigh the most money and the most time to make, still there's something missing. Much of the reason why the film doesn't work is because of the way it is put together. I don't know if it was Leigh's screenplay that was like this or if the film got lost in the editing room because I think the picture is badly put together. There are huge jumps in time, there are jumps from his professional life to his most reserved personal life, these shifts are abrupt and it left me confused and unengaged. I wasn't able to either connect with his artist side or his private life because of those rude twists in the narrative of the film. There's a total lack of focus and this undeniably the film's biggest lose.
This is really upsetting because you can feel the love that Leigh and his crew have for the project, at times the film itself becomes a beautiful painting, as the audience's breath was taken away with some of the shots but the truth is that due to its challenging and out of focus narrative, the story gets lost too many times and so do we and I'm going to remind you that this is a 150 minute picture and you can, to an extent, feel those weighing on you.
Mr. Turner is a film that I appreciate and I'm glad I saw it, but I can't say that I necessarily enjoyed it, which is disappointing. All the more because the film is brilliant in many ways, from the astonishing cinematography by Dick Pope to the Costumes and Set- Design which will probably be nominated for Academy Awards. On the race for best actor is Timothy Spall who's marvelous in movie, this is at awards level no doubt about, I can see why it took the prize at Cannes. His grunts say more than one thousand words, unbelievable how he was able to create such a unique persona on screen. Mike Leigh throws you back in time in an effortless way, the film never feels like one of those clichéd historical pieces, you breath the air that the characters are breathing. The thing is that Leigh forgets about us and leaves us there in the past, with little to grab on when it comes to narrative. I felt emotionally disconnected and wasn't able to take much out of this experience.
Rating:C+
Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival #3
This was one of my most anticipated films not only for the festival but of the year itself. Mike Leigh probably is one of the most unappreciated directors out there, he ranks amidst the best film- makers of the last thirty years and he's undeniably one of the best British directors to ever be. His style is not for everyone, usually making raw, human dramas that have at least won the critics heart, being highly regarded and even having 7 Academy Award nominations.
Mr. Turner is Directed by Mike Leigh and it stars Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Richard Bremmer, Ruth Sheen, Martin Savage, Marion Bailey, Dorothy Atkinson and Paul Jesson. "Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty."
Unfortunately I got to say that I am slightly disappointed with the film. I'm an admirer of Mike Leigh's work, he's been in a long streak of good movies and I don't necessarily think that that streak ended here but I do have to say that I believe this to be his weakest effort in over ten years. It makes me a bit sad to say this because the film has so much of good in it, it has a brilliant central performance, the management of the craft is unbelievable and even the personality that we follow is interesting but all of that didn't add up to much. I left disappointed and I think the audience left too, this was the first film of the festival that wasn't applauded at its end. Like all Mike Leigh's pictures, this is far from being a crowd pleaser, but this time I found myself rather unmoved by the story.
The film like the title says follows Mr. Tuner's journey in his professional and personal life. J.M.W. Turner was one of Britain's biggest names in the art world in the 19th century. He's skill, boldness and inventiveness awed many as he shook the art world to their knees. At the peak of his career he was seen as a genius, as a god when it came to the art of painting but has he got older, his fame and respect started to fade and so did his mental health. He was a lonely man, like many of the world's greatest artists. He was kind and delicate with the brush and the canvas but he was cold and distant in his personal life, never being able to have true relationships with anyone.
Turner's talent was undeniable and I think that much of the story is intriguing and I'm glad that this personality has now a legacy on film and not only on his paintings. I'm glad it was someone as passionate as Mike Leigh is with the project to write and direct. This is the film that took Leigh the most money and the most time to make, still there's something missing. Much of the reason why the film doesn't work is because of the way it is put together. I don't know if it was Leigh's screenplay that was like this or if the film got lost in the editing room because I think the picture is badly put together. There are huge jumps in time, there are jumps from his professional life to his most reserved personal life, these shifts are abrupt and it left me confused and unengaged. I wasn't able to either connect with his artist side or his private life because of those rude twists in the narrative of the film. There's a total lack of focus and this undeniably the film's biggest lose.
This is really upsetting because you can feel the love that Leigh and his crew have for the project, at times the film itself becomes a beautiful painting, as the audience's breath was taken away with some of the shots but the truth is that due to its challenging and out of focus narrative, the story gets lost too many times and so do we and I'm going to remind you that this is a 150 minute picture and you can, to an extent, feel those weighing on you.
Mr. Turner is a film that I appreciate and I'm glad I saw it, but I can't say that I necessarily enjoyed it, which is disappointing. All the more because the film is brilliant in many ways, from the astonishing cinematography by Dick Pope to the Costumes and Set- Design which will probably be nominated for Academy Awards. On the race for best actor is Timothy Spall who's marvelous in movie, this is at awards level no doubt about, I can see why it took the prize at Cannes. His grunts say more than one thousand words, unbelievable how he was able to create such a unique persona on screen. Mike Leigh throws you back in time in an effortless way, the film never feels like one of those clichéd historical pieces, you breath the air that the characters are breathing. The thing is that Leigh forgets about us and leaves us there in the past, with little to grab on when it comes to narrative. I felt emotionally disconnected and wasn't able to take much out of this experience.
Rating:C+
