Mr. Turner (2014)

Such a frustrating disappointment

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The portrayal of Turner by Timothy Spall is nothing short of a masterpiece. It deals with the incredibly complex and famous British painter, Joseph Turner, who is full of faults and haunted by personal demons: a true outsider who is allowed access into the upper class due to his brilliance as a landscape painter. If you want to watch a movie about a real human and the real people around him, see the movie now. Spall is superb.

This film goes distance in revealing the master painter Turner, England's best. Nice to discover how the fellow was. Scruff but witty and not francophobe like the common english. Refreshing film!

Having seen Leo McKern in an excellent TV movie about Turner titled "The Sun is God", I was eagerly looking forward to this film. For me, it failed on virtually every account. I wanted to know why Turner got out of bed in the morning to chase the sun and the light. I wanted to know what drove him to paint such wonderful pictures, and what technique he used. I wanted to feel his inspiration. I was appalled by the directors offensive portrayal of John Ruskin, who was an amazing man, a great writer, an ecologist (who took on the polluting Mill owners and struck a blow for the environment) a wonderful watercolour artist in his own right and a champion of Turner. The one redeeming scene was of The Fighting Temeraire being towed away on the Thames. This is often voted one of Britains favourite pictures, and there it was on the cinema screen, brought to life. Sadly - the incredible artist Turner was not brought to life - but reduced to a grotesque soulless caricature.

I disagree with comments saying this was spoiled by the lack of a story or that it was somehow empty.Give me the truth every time instead of being spoonfed some convenient children's story book version of something. I loved these snapshots of the man and his process. It felt real and unembellished.I think formulaic storybook films should have had their day by now but people are so slavish to them that the money machine keeps churning them out and ramming them down our throats like so much grain down a foie gras goose's neck. Then people panic when there's not a story. We are not 5! Use your damned imagination, or take it at face value. Be disturbed or haunted by the lack of tidy bows and happy endings, by the open spaces, by the jagged edges. This is life, unlike children's stories.I liked the acting from the maid in particular, but Spall and some of the supporting cast were good too. Also liked the haunting score kicking in at poignant moments. Some lovely cinematography spliced in there too. Better than I thought from the reviews, but it's not a laughfest or a tidy story. Which is absolutely fine by me cos I've had my fill of those.