Review of Mr. Turner (2014) by Pepeu — 23 May 2015

Mike Leigh have delivered some great movies during his career, and some not so great. I'm afraid this fall into the latter category. Sure, great acting, marvelous scenery and from what I have read, a big dose of authenticity. Timothy Spall is excellent in the leading part. So are many other colorful characters, Dorothy Atkinson as Hannah for instance. Brilliant! She alone moves this from a 5 to a 6.

If only they could have cut away one hour, this would have been an amazing piece you'd remember and cherish. There are so many scenes that didn't really add to the story telling. So many that I can't even recall them all. It didn't give more depth and layers to its narrative. They were just meh on repeat. All the grunting and snorting from Turner - which would make Karl Childers in Sling Blade... grunt in awe - gets a bit tiresome after two and a half weeks. Sorry, hours. To paraphrase from the movie; Mr. Turner, you are exceedingly tiresome.