Mr. Turner (2014)

I loved this visual feast, about the prickly English painter J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851). Though the pace is slow and the dialect requires concentration, the images are magical, from the magnificent paintings to the breathtaking cinematography clearly inspired by the master's work. Jack was less entranced than I, due to the pace, dialect, and dated sentence structure, but agrees that it is beautiful. The movie has been Oscar-nominated for cinematography, music, costumes, and production design, as well as other accolades.

Timothy Spall (last blogged in Ginger & Rosa) will be 58 next week, and plays the artist from age 51 to his death with, as Jack put it, "More grunting than a women's tennis match." All of us in the theatre eventually chuckled at the noises, which put me in mind of the animated bear who eats a cell phone in a short we've seen frequently. Dorothy Atkinson (new to me), as housekeeper Hannah, must have been very sore from that awful posture (her neck is practically parallel to the floor) she affects throughout the story, and she's been nominated for a British Independent Film Award for this role. Marion Bailey as Mrs. Booth and Paul Jesson as Turner's father are just fine, too, though I was confused about Jesson, because, 11 years older than Spall, he looked too young to be his father.

Veteran director/writer Mike Leigh (covered in Another Year) is known for his idiosyncratic work, and this is no exception. Many scenes just seem to be slices of life, not particularly moving the plot along. That's just the director's style. It's marvelous to watch Turner work and frequently amusing as well.

There are a couple of mild spoilers in this fascinating article about the making of the picture, so read it after seeing this.

Cinematographer Dick Pope (last in these pages for Me and Orson Welles) certainly deserves the nominations and awards he's racked up so far, as does composer Gary Yershon (scored Another Year). You can stream short samples of the soundtrack on the amazon page.

It doesn't surprise me that critics are averaging 98% but audiences 59 on Rotten Tomatoes. If you're a patient sort, with an ear for British accents and an eye for painting, do see this on the big screen.But don't bring your artistic kids. A few scenes are not suitable for children.