mr . turner
mr. turner plot summary: mr. turner plot summary | english movie news - times of india
mike leigh’s jmw turner biopic mr. turner, starring timothy spall, reviewed .
' the eccentric mr turner' | j. m. w. turner film
mr. turner is a drama depicting the life of joseph mallord william turner (timothy ...
how they did it: the royal academy scene in ‘mr. turner’ | indiewire
how they did it: the royal academy scene in' mr. turner'
mike leigh explains what was' terrifying' about filming' mr. turner'
turner has been brought to life superbly by timothy spall in mike leigh’s critically acclaimed new film, mr turner .
cannes film festival (2014) - mr. turner clip - mike leigh biopic hd
why did you select the 2. 35: 1 aspect ratio for mr turner ?
mr. turner is no barrel of laughs. it' s a barrel of life - an extraordinary one .
“mr. turner” is rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). lust for life .
timothy spall portrays the 19th century british painter j. m. w. turner, whose verbal communication consists mainly of grunts, in “mr. turner. ”
i must confess, mr turner, that i find myself quite unable to answer your question with the precision that i would wish .
cinematography birdman emmanuel lubezki the grand budapest hotel robert yeoman ida lukasz zal, ryzsard lenczewski interstellar hoyte van hoytema mr. turner dick pope
mr. turner explores the last quarter century of the life of j. m. w. turner (1775 - 1851), the singleminded artist who worked hard and travelled extensively .
the relationship between mr. wilson and mr. richards - like the one between mr. fugard and mr. richards - proceeds almost in shorthand. meetings are brief and direct. work is done and implemented. there is a sense of support from director to writer, but not the constant, saccharine stroking often found in theater .
blue ruin locke a most wanted man mr. turner obvious child the skeleton twins snowpiercer stand clear of the closing doors starred up still alice
i must confess, mr. turner, that i find myself quite unable to answer your question with the precision that i would wish .
if the past is a foreign country, then
mr. turner
is one of the most rhapsodic foreign films you may ever see .
mr turner was written and directed by the acclaimed mike leigh and chronicles the last twenty - five years of one of the most celebrated artists in british history – j. m. w. turner .
one of the most thorough period pieces in recent memory, mr. turner' s rigorous eye for time and place is downright transcendent - with dick…
turner has been brought to life superbly by timothy spall in mike leigh’s critically acclaimed new film, mr turner. made on a budget of £8. 4 million, it’s the hottest british movie of the year
the director has made little secret of his contempt for the awards body. does that explain why mr turner has received so few nominations, asks ryan gilbey
though the runtime is rather excessive, mr. turner looks beautiful and gets elevated by the amazing spall. the royal academy and photograph scenes are excellent .
dvd rips of' fury,'' annie,'' mr. turner,' and' still alice' hit the web following sony pictures hack
join film director mike leigh and and actor timothy spall for a behind - the - scenes look at how they brought turner to life and set about recreating his queen anne street gallery for the 2014 film mr turner .
costume design the grand budapest hotel milena canonero the imitation game sammy sheldon differ into the woods colleen atwood mr. turner jacqueline durran the theory of everything steven noble
it' s in this latter sequence that
mr. turner
most distinguishes itself from other films about art and artists, indeed from most screen biographies .
from left, ruth sheen as sarah danby, paul jesson as william turner, dorothy atkinson as hannah danby, amy as georgiana and sandy foster as evelina in
mr. turner .
( simon mein / sony pictures classics )
best cinematography * 1. mr. turner 33 (dick pope) 2. the immigrant 27 (darius khondji) 3. goodbye to language 9 (fabrice aragno )
he won best actor at cannes for mr turner but nothing from the globes, the oscars or even bafta. indignity levels hit rock bottom with complaints about a sex scene
dvd rips of' fury,'' annie,'' mr. turner,' and' still alice' hit the web following sony pictures hack - the verge
to call mr. turner one of the year' s most overrated films seems unfair, as it' s worth watching for beautiful cinematography and a plethora of gentle laughs .
best director * 1. richard linklater 36 (boyhood) 2. jean - luc godard 17 (goodbye to language) 3. mike leigh 12 (mr. turner )
“still alice, ” “mr. turner” and “to write love on her arms” are seeing only modest piracy activity, all below 100, 000 unique ip addresses since nov. 27 .
turner had a rich history with kent and drew inspiration for his works from a variety of locations including stangate creek, margate and whitstable. now, the turner contemporary gallery in margate celebrates turner’s association with the area .
all in all, the 150 - minute mr. turner is an impressive accomplishment, laudable for the way it uses the figure of a single artist to explore both art and cinema .
from boyhood to birdman, mr turner to wild, this year’s academy awards are in thrall to powers we can barely comprehend. but why have film - makers starting thinking so big ?
mr turner, produced for around $ 15m, was lauded by critics after it screened at the 67th cannes film festival. indeed, timothy spall won the gong for best male actor and pope was honoured with the vulcain technical artist prize by the cst (commission supérieure technique de l’image et du son) for “bringing to light the works of turner” via his deft cinematography. here, ron prince discovers more about how mr turner was conceived and shot .
it is long, at two and a half hours, and it moves slowly, but i was drawn in and could not stop watching. mr turner is a london based artist also known as william turner of j m w turner, and we join with him for the last 25 years of his life until he dies in 1851 .
this article is related to: interviews and tagged awards, awards season roundup, cinematography, costume design, immersed in movies, mike leigh, mr. turner, production design, sound and score
fury has been released in cinemas but not yet on dvd while annie is due on the big screen on 19th december. mr turner, which stars timothy spall as the 19th - century british painter jmw turner, has already been released in the uk but not the us .
‘mike leigh knew that i could draw a little bit, but i spent a good two years learning how to paint before filming even started on mr turner, ’ spall told me early in filming .
the director has made little secret of his contempt for the awards body. does that explain why mr turner has received so few nominations, or do bafta - voters simply prefer unchallenging, middlebrow entertainment ?
timothy spall’s portrayal of painter jmw turner on the big screen earned him rave reviews and an acting award at the cannes film festival. but it appears his “clenching” buttocks in mr turner also drew the public’s disapproval, surprisingly making it the most complained about film of the past year .
due to its limited screen count, mr turner had to content itself with seventh place in the weekend chart. however, partly thanks to family films and horror pictures fading on monday, mr turner found itself surging to become the top - grossing title on that day, auguring well for continued success. the film expands to about 250 cinemas from its second weekend, by far the widest play for a leigh title. the director’s biggest ever hit, vera drake, enjoyed an exceptionally sustained run, eventually reaching £2. 38m. it’s now a question of when, not if, mr turner exceeds that figure .
mr. leigh’s twin portraits of important 19th - century cultural figures (gilbert and sullivan in “topsy - turvy, ” and now turner in “mr. turner”) extend the range of his sympathy and curiosity into a past that is neither the mirror of the present nor wholly alien to the world as we know it. turner, with his lumbering gait and broad, suety face, dominates the picture, seeming to personify his age and all its contradictions. his speech is a symphony of growls, snorts and flights of guttural eloquence. as he traipses from london to the seaside town of margate and back, paces in his studio and prowls the galleries of the royal academy, we witness an act of creation that seems more sculptural than cinematic, as if mr. spall and mr. leigh were molding turner in molten bronze .
production design big eyes rick heinrichs, shane vieau the grand budapest hotel adam stockhausen, anna pinnock the imitation game maria djurkovic, tatiana macdonald interstellar nathan crowley, gary fettis mr. turner suzie davies, charlotte watts
the official site for j. m. w. turner the tate organization encyclopedia britannica
best actor * 1. timothy spall 31 (mr. turner) 2. tom hardy 10 (locke) 3. joaquin phoenix 9 (inherent vice) 3. ralph fiennes 9 (the grand budapest hotel )
it' s only fitting that mr. turner takes on the texture of an ambulatory painting that brims with precise orchestration and vivid expression. it beautifully hums and flows like the artwork on display - not just as a superficial marvel but as a profound reincarnation of j. m. w. turner' s eminent yet occasionally objectionable life. unlike countless biopics of recent, mike leigh' s stunning epic boasts copious clarity and a seamlessly paced narrative that creatively circumvents the trappings of the genre. incandescent and entirely immersive, mr. turner echoes the enchanting artistry of turner with its own spellbinding piece of magnificence .
for leigh, however, the structure of
mr. turner
was in some ways such a departure from what he was used to that he found the making of it, in a word ,
terrifying .
for modern moviegoers, the earthy
mr. turner
may seem like slowly steeped tea with an unpleasant aftertaste. but while some are impatiently waiting for the paint to dry, astute viewers will see a cinematic landscape bloom .
best picture * 1. goodbye to language 25 (jean - luc godard) 2. boyhood 24 (richard linklater) 3. birdman 10 (alejandro g. iñárritu) 3. mr. turner 10 (mike leigh )
watched after a visit to turner' s house in strawberry hill. both highly recommended !
a niece of sarah danby (see below), hannah danby (1786 - 1853) was turner' s faithful housekeeper for over forty years. she died two years after turner .
you leave
mr. turner ,
as with all good fact - based films, wanting to know more about this man and his work - and remembering that beautiful, almost touchable light, on the canvas and on the screen .
mr. turner was nominated for original score, costume design, production design and cinematography at the academy wards in 2015. it was also nominated for 4 baftas, for cinematography, make up & hair, costume design and production design .
make up & hair the grand budapest hotel frances hannon guardians of the galaxy elizabeth yianni - georgiou, david white into the woods peter swords king, j. roy helland mr. turner christine blundell, lesa warrener the theory of everything jan sewell
failure isn’t only the province of the lazy and uninspired. no, even the gifted and conscientious must occasionally take a stroll through that blasted landscape, and with “mr. turner” leigh does it, for 2½ hours. don’t go with him .
set in mid - nineteenth century, the story of mr. turner concerns the last 25 years in the life of the esteemed english painter, j. m. w. turner. and although the plot does offer glimpses of what drove or inspired the man & his work over the years, its major emphasis is actually on the flawed…
lindsay, jack. turner: the man and his art. london: granada, 1985 .
another big sony movie, “ annie, ” is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. other sony movies being downloaded include “mr. turner, ” “still alice” and “to write love on her arms. ”
mike leigh’s mr. turner, about the last decades of the life of the english painter j. m. w. turner (1775 - 1851), which the filmmaker has been attempting to make for some time, is a strong and fascinating work. in its own way, it is a quite radical film, which insists on turner’s humble origins and his estrangement from the upper echelons of british society, as well as the painting academy .
mr. turner is about the tensions and contrasts between this very mortal man and his timeless work, between his fragility and his strength. it is also an attempt to evoke the dramatic changes in his world over the last quarter century of his life .
joshua mcguire is one of the only featured actors in mr. turner to be working with mike leigh for the first time. he was recently seen in richard curtis' s' about time', and following mr. turner, filmed roles in kenneth branagh' s' cinderella' and chris smith' s' get santa'. television work includes siblings',' you, me & them',' a young doctor' s notebook' and the second series of' the hour' .
in' mr. turner,' i was dealing with the time period from 1825 to 1851 [ the year of the artist' s death ] and that set all kinds of traps, opened up a whole lot of cans of worms .
'' fences'' receives - it has just finished previews and will run through may 25 - it does stand as a testament to the working partnership between mr. richards and mr. wilson. with two plays done and another planned for next year, their collaboration is fast becoming as fruitful as the one between mr. richards and athol fugard, the south african author of'' master harold... and the boys'' and other plays .
'' i remember thinking' what do i do now?''' mr. wilson said.'' so i immediately started' fences.' i didn' t want to allow that pressure to build.'' mr. wilson also wrote'' joe turner' s come and gone'' - scheduled next season at the yale repertory - before'' ma rainey'' opened .
mike leigh' s biopic of british artist jmw turner, starring timothy spall in the title role .
wilton, andrew. turner in his time. new york: harry n. abrams, 1987 .
in the case of'' fences,'' mr. wilson and mr. richards had a fair amount of work to do on a tight schedule. the play ran three and a half hours in its staged reading at the o' neill theater center in 1983. mr. wilson made cuts before rehearsals began at the yale repertory earlier this year, but another 30 minutes needed to be cut during rehearsals to bring the running time to two hours and 15 minutes .
“mr. turner” is a flaccid, interminable movie by a talented director, mike leigh, which means it has its moments, but moments are all you get. the movie seems as if it were made as a halfhearted response to a question that no one was, in fact, asking, “what was j. m. w. turner really like? ”
whilst the film, simply titled mr turner, includes visual influences rooted in the romantic paintings of the 19th century, it is chiefly a character study of the mercurial artist – an eccentric, reclusive character, bedevilled by depressive bouts and tangled familial and amorous relationships .
the mr turner production visited the historic dockyard in chatham where they used hms gannet which doubled for a pleasure vessel on the thames as well as the scenes where turner is tied to the mast of a ship in a storm to make some sketches for his painting snow storm - steam - boat off a harbour’s mouth. stangate creek was also used to film a rowing scene .
outstanding artistic achievment … mike leigh, in front of a turner at tate britain. photograph: karen robinson
english painting’s renowned master of light, joseph mallord william turner (1775 - 1851), gets a suitably illuminating screen biography in mike leigh’s “mr. turner, ” an ecstatically beautiful and exquisitely detailed portrait of the artist as a cantankerous middle - aged man whose brilliance with the brush overshadows his sometimes appalling lack of social graces. returning to the large - canvas period [ … ]
as well as designing the space turner also curated it, selecting and arranging paintings on the walls (and on the floor !). take a tour of the exhibition and see the paintings turner chose to display .
when dr price attends turner in london, he says he is taking the train back to margate from charing cross station, which wasn' t opened until 1864, 13 years after turner' s death. see more »
also nominated are two asc first - timers, oscar faura for the weinstein company’s the imitation game and robert d yeoman for fox searchlight’s the grand budapest hotel. rounding out the field is dick pope for sony classics’ paining biopic mr turner; pope was previously nominated for the illusionist in 2007 .
it appears that turner might just have tumbled out of bed. but then turner, most commonly known as ‘the painter of light’, was also a brilliant eccentric who cared little for his appearance or what other people thought of him .
but we also know that turner was a visionary, whose later work was not always well understood by his contemporaries .
a bicyclist carries a sign critical of the judge' s sentencing in the brock turner case friday in san jose .
george jones interior of turner’s gallery c. 1852 oil on panel 14 x 23 cm courtesy the ashmolean museum, oxford
not here, though. “mr. turner” is a mighty work of critical imagination, a loving, unsentimental portrait of a rare creative soul. but even as it celebrates a glorious painter and illuminates the sources of his pictures with startling clarity and insight, the movie patiently and thoroughly demolishes more than a century’s worth of mythology about what art is and how artists work. you may have had the good fortune to study turner’s watercolors and martial tableaus up close, to linger over his storms and placid river scenes, but somehow mr. leigh makes it all look newly painted, fresh and strange .
a total of 1, 810, 755 people had viewed the world war two film by lunchtime on tuesday with 241, 592 people seeing the unreleased remake of annie starring cameron diaz and 88, 528 watching the mike leigh film mr turner, the piracy monitoring company excipio has told radiotimes. com .
with: timothy spall (j. m. w. turner), dorothy atkinson (hannah danby), marion bailey (sophia booth), paul jesson (william turner), lesley manville (mary somerville), martin savage (benjamin robert haydon), joshua mcguire (john ruskin), ruth sheen (sarah danby), david horovitch (dr. price) and karl johnson (mr. booth) .
not only did he spend two years learning to paint, but he also visited the artist’s homes in margate and london, read more than 20 books on turner and learned about greek mythology and other areas in which turner was an expert .
it might be risking ruskinesque folly to take “mr. turner” as a self - portrait of its director, but turner shares with mr. leigh an ability to travel the circuit between the sublime and the ordinary, to bring into view aspects of reality that had been somehow invisible in plain sight. all of mr. leigh’s films are personal to the extent that they reflect his sensibility, his politics and his ethical concerns, but his methods — characters and stories developed over many months of rehearsal, improvisation and research in collaboration with actors and crew members — resist the imposition of a singular authorial vision. he is best known for anatomizing the pervasive indignities and saving graces of modern britain, with particular attention to the low and middle rungs of the class ladder and the stresses and pleasures of family life. social life for him is what sea air was to turner: an atmospheric element that becomes a vehicle of meaning and emotion .
evelina dupuis (1801 - 1874) was the elder illegitimate daughter of sarah danby and turner. her first three children died in infancy, baby rosalie adelaide thus being turner' s
only surviving grandchild
, although two others came later .
according to the complaint, to write love on her arms was also one of four unreleased sony films along with annie, mr. turner and still alice that became illegally distributed online as a result of a 2014 cyber attack against sony pictures, which has been attributed to the north koreans as retribution for the interview .
british artist j. m. w. turner (timothy spall) has recently returned from a painting expedition in belgium. he lives with his elderly father (paul jesson) and their housekeeper (dorothy atkinson), who doubles as turner’s lover .
for the v - day romantic: find your modern day
mr. darcy ,
or, if you' ve already found him, use these literary quotes to help light the flame .
at 150 minutes, the epic length of the film posed a challenge to programmers trying to offer customers a choice of two evening showtimes, and there was evidence of straddling across two screens, alternating with a shorter film. after the friday numbers came in, some cinemas promoted mr turner to screens with bigger seating capacity .
in the new mike leigh film, mr turner, you can hardly miss the mister. joseph mallord william is a sore thumb from the opening scene, where he’s sketching a windmill somewhere in rural holland, poised like a pot - bellied stork among the rushes. the scene tells you everything you need to know about the man and the places he feels happiest: in short, it’s landscape as portrait, and turner would have smiled at that .
i' d have given more stars for mr spall' s acting but was voting on the actual film which threw me a bit as it wasn' t what i was expecting. i managed to get into it a bit more as it went on and i learned more online afterwards which helped me make sense of the characters in the film. i got the impression it had been put together as pieces of known information or situations in turner' s life a bit like a patchwork quilt where squares of knowledge were sewn together. i particularly enjoyed mr spall' s section explaining elements of mr turner' s life and the making of the film itself as an extra part of the dvd. apparently the man was enigmatic and secretive, i' d have liked to have known why although i appreciate that may not be something generally known .
[ last lines ] j. m. w. turner: the sun is god! ha ha ha! see more »
turner' s picture, conviction information and address will be publicly available on ohio' s sex offender registry, fischer said .
wilton, andrew. j. m. w. turner: his art and life. new york: rizzoli, 1979 .
“mr. turner” (mike leigh, u. k .) a four - time veteran of the cannes competition who won the palme d’or for 1996’s “secrets & lies” and director for 1993’s “naked, ” the british master will return to the festival with this portrait of the 19th - century painter j. m. w. turner, starring timothy spall and lesley manville. sony classics is distributing in the u. s. (sales: sunray films )
there’s also a memorable and devastating conversation, shot in one long take, in which haydon’s colleagues discuss his career, as haydon is shown, through a window, walking farther and farther into the background. it’s a brilliantly composed shot, in which a man’s life is being consigned to failure and disappointment even as he walks along, unknowing. but in the end, what does haydon really have to do with turner? or with “mr. turner” ?
coast of northumberland” in which hazy, indistinct figures weave in and out of radiant swirls of land, sea and sky). it’s a heady snapshot of a london art scene dominated by the party politics of the royal academy of arts, whose contentious group shows provide the setting for some of “mr. turner’”s most memorable moments .
folk over at the london film school (lfs) are still basking in glory after several of its alumni picked up a raft of prizes at cannes, including the cannes palme d' or for fellow graduate simón mesa soto' s film leidi; lfs chairman and graduate mike leigh' s film mr turner was also honoured .
the length, composition and movement or lack thereof of each shot has given mr. turner the rare quality of feeling like they simply shot a play while still retaining a cinematic feel (very impressive cinematography by dick pope, not poop). timothy spall is also incredible (keep an eye out for the crying scene) .
the film is playing an even balance of arthouses and multiplexes, with the former scoring particularly well on friday. growth on saturday came more in the plexes, perhaps as a result of bigger screen allocations or tinkering with showtimes. across the weekend, picturehouse claimed top share, with 18% of mr turner’s box - office .
i think you have to take the whole picture in terms of what impact imprisonment has on a specific individual' s life. and the impact statements that have been - - or the, really, character letters that have been submitted, do show a huge collateral consequence for mr. turner based on the conviction .
timothy spall in mike leigh' s mr turner leigh' s film won a best actor award for timothy spall as well as the vulcan award of the technical artist for cinematographer dick pope. the salt of the earth, directed by lfs graduate juliano ribeiro salgado was awarded the un certain regard special jury prize, alongside wim wenders .
mr. turner treats the facts with no less mercilessness, but at least it honors turner even as it cherry - picks from his biography. 150 minutes of a stodgy victorian artist few remember become compelling thanks to the leigh’s masterful combination of reality, invention, and myth. turner’s myth, indeed, holds that he strapped himself to the mast of the ship in order to paint the sea, an image that forms one of the film’s best scenes. his forcible affair with his servant, while awful to see, is of a piece with the rest of turner’s character as leigh imagines him. when in mourning for someone close to him, turner visits a whorehouse simply to paint one, out of the same compulsive, hungry need that motivates him in every other corner of his life, for good or ill. all we once had left of turner were his paintings and a few biographies—now we have a vibrant work of cinema to commemorate his art, and where it took us .
unlike “topsy - turvy” (which centered on the writing and staging of “the mikado”), “mr. turner” employs a broader, more episodic structure that slowly and steadily immerses us in his world during the period when he was transitioning from classical representational painting to more abstract, proto - impressionistic forms (paintings like the ravishing “rain, steam and speed
“no, ” turner barks. “the past is the past. you’re observing the future! smoke. iron. steam! ” leigh and spall’s genius is to show us both in one man: turner is future and past, progress and history, tugboat and temeraire .
mr. turner
not only has everything aesthetically a biographical period drama could ask for with gorgeous costumes and product design, but it also has the unique distinction of actually putting the vastly underrated, timothy spall in a lead role for once. a role, i might add, he clearly was born to play as he was absolutely sublime playing the curmudgeon artist, jmw turner. however, the film' s concept is one i ain' t buying. i get the point of following the character around through these big moments between rather dull ones, but its slow pace doesn' t go well with its long run time which ultimately tries the patience. overall ,
mr. turner
has a lot to boast about, but it' s simply too testy to be worth its audience' s time .
peter bradshaw, the guardian :
mr turner is funny, humane and visually immaculate, hitting its confident stride straight away. it combines domestic intimacy with an epic sweep, and a lyrical gentleness pervades each scene, tragic or comic. every line, every detail, every minor character, however casual or apparently superfluous, is absolutely necessary .
anyone who works with mike leigh, director of “mr. turner, ” knows ahead of time that they’ll be building the project nearly from scratch: actors will help in the creation of their characters, and crew such as the costume designer and production designer (in this case, leigh newcomer suzie davies and veteran of the process jacqueline [ … ]
this 2 disc special edition contains interviews from the cast and crew and deleted scenes, giving a great insight into the production of one of the best british films in recent years. a stunning and beautiful film, mr. turner tells the extraordinary story of britain’s greatest ever artist. as turner (timothy spall – the king’s speech) produces masterpieces ahead of his time that challenge the art world, so he has to confront his own ever changing circumstances and deal with love and loss .
mike leigh takes on the topsy - turvy life of j. m. w. turner in an exquisitely detailed, brilliantly acted biopic .
similar furor was on display friday. hours after turner' s release, protesters chanted and waved signs outside the santa clara county jail .
© 2018 cable news network. turner broadcasting system, inc. all rights reserved. cnn sans ™ & © 2016 cable news network .
at last year’s cannes film festival, his long - gestating passion project, mr turner, was rapturously received. a jury headed by jane campion and including nicolas winding refn, jia zhangke and willem dafoe awarded the best actor prize to its star, timothy spall, for his performance – all bluster, phlegm and heartache – as the painter jmw turner. the acclaim continued when the picture opened in britain in october. what’s more, with uk takings of £6. 58m, mr turner is among the 10 highest - grossing british films of 2014. leigh’s move to a larger canvas has resulted in the biggest hit of a career which began more than 40 years ago. it wasn’t far - fetched to hope that its excellence would be recognised come awards season. but artistic achievement, critical accolades and popularity among the public clearly hold no sway with bafta .
sophia booth (1798 - 1875) was turner' s landlady in margate, and then his mistress and companion from the mid - 1830s. twice widowed, she had a son by her first marriage. she eventually sold her margate boarding house and moved with turner to chelsea .
explore the spirit of camaraderie and competition between turner (timothy spall) and his fellow artists before the opening of the annual exhibition at the royal academy. they called it “varnishing day, ” and turner enjoyed completing unfinished paintings and tweaking his rivals (watch the clip below) .
sixth - placed nightcrawler crept past the £1m weekend tally thanks to £59, 000 in previews. the well - reviewed title ranked third place on monday, behind mr turner and fury. with a reported production budget of only $ 8. 5m, this was potentially an attractively priced acquisition for uk distributor eone, especially if word - of - mouth sustains .
and while all the wonderfully played characters in
mr. turner ,
from the winning mrs. booth, the mistress and companion of his later years (marion bailey), to the critic john ruskin (joshua mcguire), are based on real people rather than created from scratch, that didn' t change the way leigh and his actors worked .
mike leigh has solved all these problems in mr. turner, his glorious new film about the last years of the english landscape painter j. m. w. turner. and i’m not even quite sure how he’s done it—his brushstrokes are as subtle and difficult to distinguish as the ones that make up his subject' s shimmering seascapes and ominous, billowing clouds. writing about mr. turner a few weeks after seeing it, i feel a craving to be again immersed in its world, which is rich with colors, textures, and, it sometimes almost seems, smells—not always pleasant ones, given that this is the early 19 th century we’re talking about. more than any period film in years (paul thomas anderson’s there will be blood comes to mind, as does leigh’s own topsy turvy) mr. turner seems to be taking place in something like the actual past, in a world distinctly different from our own while remaining contiguous with it. as the inscrutable turner, a work - obsessed loner who for long stretches communicates only in grunts, timothy spall—a key member of leigh’s informal ensemble company for decades now—creates a character so embodied and complete, it doesn’t matter that we don’t always get the motivations behind his impulsive acts. the seeming disconnect between this painter’s chaotic personal life and the harmonious compositions he creates only deepens, and enhances, the mystery .
' he had to be able to spit on the canvas to mix up the paint, which is something turner was known for doing. ’
an exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, british painter j. m. w. turner' s life .
in perhaps the greatest of all movies about the lives of painters, maurice pialat’s “van gogh, ” not a single van gogh painting was ever shown. leigh doesn’t go quite as far in “mr. turner, ” but his sensibility is largely the same, striving to capture the temperament of the man and his times rather than reducing them to a series of iconic images and eureka moments. scenes of turner scribbling in his sketchbook and slathering paint on canvas are used sparingly, and never without a clear purpose. shooting in widescreen, the director and his regular d. p. dick pope strive less to re - create turner’s canvases cinematically than to capture something of the land and light as it might have inspired him: a steam locomotive cloaking the horizon in its exhaust; boats at sea wreathed in a magic - hour glow. whereas leigh’s much - vaunted work with actors has often dominated the discussion around his films, “mr. turner” should leave no lingering doubts that he is every bit as masterful a visual storyteller .
musical remake annie is the biggest unreleased title in the leak; due in theaters worldwide next month, it opens wide in the u. s. on december 19. still alice, the alzheimer’s drama that’s propelling julianne moore into the oscar race, hits limited screens on december 5. mike leigh’s period biopic mr. turner is set for a december 19 limited bow .
usually, an artist biography attempts to account for the art, to make a bridge between who the artist was and what he created. “mr. turner” doesn’t do that. turner’s ability to paint is just a gift of vision that he happens to possess, just as his inexhaustible interest in seascapes seems innate and unexplainable. that, in itself, presents no problem — mozart’s genius remained a mystery in “amadeus. ” but this film offers little in its place but a grunting man’s day - to - day life .
now mr. wilson is back again with a new drama entitled'' fences,'' starring james earl jones as the proud but embittered head of a pittsburgh family.'' fences'' reunites mr. wilson with the yale repertory and its artistic director, lloyd richards, the director of both'' ma rainey'' and'' fences'' and the man who might be said to have'' discovered'' august wilson .
the stunning new biopic of the romantic landscape painter j. m. w. turner improvises on art history to (successfully) create art itself .
the pair have an on - off sexual relationship, but in between times turner is cold, distant and often absent for weeks at a time .
their focus: judge aaron persky, who sentenced turner in june. several speakers called for persky to be removed from office through a recall election .
i wondered in the first few minutes if i would be watching the film through to the end. then i watched a little more. then i was hooked on this film - wanting to see how this famous artist' s life would play out. timothy spall is amazing in this film and the class and lifestyle of mr turner was quite a surprise. loved this film .
in
mr. turner ,
as in all his films, leigh' s specific way of working, his use of months of pre - shooting improvisation, building characters with his actors from the ground up — spall took painting lessons for two years to allow him to feel comfortable with a brush in his hands — makes his people and his stories singularly lifelike and convincing .
“sir john soane [ the neo - classical architect played by nicholas jones ] always wore britches and black stockings and that was a written fact. and it was great to play up the rivalry between john constable and turner and constable not being successful in his lifetime but turner being very successful. constable was painting in his shirt sleeves next to turner and that’s how james fleet decided he would play constable. there’s very little evidence for how people looked when they were painting. there is a painting of turner on ‘varnishing day, ’ so we know how turner would be. it was all about your rank and your status and how you’re perceived by your colleagues. you rarely see such social scenes played out in period films to that detail. ”
the portrait painted of the artist in
mr. turner
is as muddled and murky as his paintings were perceived to be by victorian london. despite exceptional costumes, sets and locations, despite very good acting, and despite a sublime soundtrack ,
mr. turner
is a complete failure of storytelling. turner' s motives are never explained other than that he is a fading star whose avant - garde work is not appreciated (although that is not a clear motivation in his relationships since his mistreatment of women seems to far predate his fall from the artistic firmament). is he a misogynist who rapes and abandons the women in his life and who has merely moved on to the next? or does he love the women in his life but feels he must hurt and deceive them in order to protect them (... from what ?)? the unanswered questions are legion and should not be mistaken for subtle script writing where clues supporting either conclusion are placed throughout the film. there are no clues, and any conclusions drawn by the audience are necessarily based on pure speculation .
mr. turner
should have been a five - star film, but the lack of a discernible story leaves the film a mere period atmosphere piece with no compelling reason to see it .
the biographical drama takes us back to the nineteenth century when turner travelled and painted some of his renowned works, even though he was struggling with the death of his esteemed father. the film also highlights turner’s eccentric behaviour which resulted in his being both celebrated and reviled by the public and royalty alike .
although he has two grown daughters, family life is not for mr. turner. his art is all - consuming and he travels wherever he believes he' ll find inspiration for his next works. he finds himself in the coastal town of margate, where he rents a small seaside apartment from widow sophia booth (marion bailey), who goes on to become his last mistress .
mr turner does not want for admirers. “mike leigh and timothy spall’s great achievement is showing us how the artist approached the physical business of painting, ” sir nicholas serota, the director of the tate galleries, tells me. “but they also convey the spirit of a man whose reputation as a curmudgeon is unwarranted, given his passionate interest in people and the world around him. there is a great humanitarian streak in turner and mike leigh has found a way of capturing this on film, as he has done so often before. ”
additional international titles announced in special presentations include mike leigh’s “mr. turner, ” laurent cantet’s “return to ithaca, ” abel ferrara’s “pasolini, ” zhang yimou’s “coming home, ” david oelhoffen’s “far from men, ” ruben ostlund’s “force majeure, ” shim sung - bo’s “haemoo, ” peter chelsom’s “hector and the search for happiness, ” saverio costanzo’s “hungry hearts” and wang xiaoshuai’s “red amnesia. ”
georgiana thompson (1811 - 1843) was sarah danby and turner' s second illegitimate daughter. she died in childbirth, having married three years earlier .
additionally, the judge said he' d considered the
severe impact
a state prison sentence would have on an offender of turner' s age .
j. m. w turner is an artist best known for his atmospheric paintings of landscapes. but he had another less known talent. he created bespoke galleries specially designed to display his paintings. in 1822 turner opened a gallery behind his west end house. the painting above by george jones shows us what it looked like. every aspect of the gallery – from its heating and lighting to the arrangement of paintings on its walls – was carefully planned by turner .
* grumble * meet the unexpectedly hilarious - and i mean in chorus laughter from the entire cinema audience - life of mr. j. m. w. turner, celebrated british sea - view painter. * snarl * there is a scene in here that features an art critic circle discussing gooseberries growth and it overtrumps the best monty python sketches, i almost died laughing in my chair, an effect few comedies have managed to inflict on me and here mr. turner, announced as an drama / biopic, does it again and again and again. * grunt * * spew * featuring little plot besides seemingly unimportant and, above all, random passages is his life, the film is full of eccentric characters who turn uneventfulness into brilliance. * snort * we never get to care too much about…
immersive, unhurried and beautifully created ,
mr. turner
will premiere in competition at the festival de cannes on thursday with timothy spall commanding in the title role. it' s a marvel both in its presentation of a very specific individual in his particular world and as an examination of the demanding power of the creative impulse. the film will be released later this year by sony pictures classics .
typically for director leigh, he expected his cast and crew to approach the film with devotion and artistic vigour, becoming experts on turner’s art and victorian england .
as spall explains: ‘turner was charismatic. he may have been funny - looking but women liked him because he was a genius and they knew it. ’
apart from the fantastic characterizations and top - notch cinematography, the real beauty of turner' s vision was his ability to find beauty in the seemingly ordinary .
gage, john. j. m. w. turner :
a wonderful range of mind .
. new haven: yale university press, 1987 .
with this play, mr. wilson also has begun to learn more about theatrical form - how to communicate to an audience that two weeks have passed between scenes, for example, and how to allow an actor time to change costumes between scenes .
in recent weeks mr. turner has come under fire for taking such liberties, especially regarding the depiction of turner’s unfavorable characteristics. in all of his films, leigh has the cast improvising their characters, with their best, most spontaneous lines becoming the content of the script. so however much research is poured into the roles (reportedly months for most of the cast members here, and two years for spall, who took the time to learn how to paint), ultimately, the scenes that make it onscreen boil down to the imprecise art of chemistry and playacting .
bringing on screen the life & career of one of the most prolific, gifted & distinguished painters to have ever lived, mr. turner could' ve been a highly fascinating & interesting biopic as the icon it tries to resurrect on the film canvas was considered a highly controversial figure of his era but what it instead turns out to be is a 150 minutes of mostly lifeless cinema that feels twice as long .
mr. turner is much slower moving and less incident - packed than topsy - turvy, leigh’s bawdy and rollicking 1999 backstage comedy about the original production of gilbert and sullivan’s the mikado. especially in the middle hour, there’s a sense of narrative roominess, as if leigh isn’t so much shaping turner’s life into a story as simply letting it unfold before us in a series of everyday vignettes. but mr. turner does resemble topsy - turvy in its meticulous yet vibrant recreation of the past and its ever - expanding thematic amplitude. this is a movie not only about one particular artist, but about art as both a field of human endeavor and an object of shifting cultural and economic value. late in his life, turner’s work began to move toward a kind of proto - abstraction, with broad washes of color so loosely painted they’re all but unrecognizable as landscapes. popular opinion turned against him (as leigh shows in the form of a mocking music - hall skit) and his once - coveted paintings ceased to sell like as they used to. but turner’s late style, now recognized as a radical innovation in painting, was praised by a few of his more forward - thinking contemporaries, including the critic john ruskin (who appears here as an insufferably self - impressed fop played by joshua mcguire).
mr. turner is a 2014 biographical drama film based around the last twenty-five years of the life and career of painter j. m. w. turner ( 1775 – 1851 ) . written and directed by mike leigh , the film stars timothy spall in the title role with dorothy atkinson , paul jesson , marion bailey , lesley manville and martin savage . it premiered in competition for the palme d'or at the 2014 cannes film festival , where spall won the award for best actor and cinematographer dick pope received a special jury prize for the film 's cinematography . the film was critically acclaimed and received four nominations each at the 87th academy awards and 68th british academy film awards . describing turner as " a great artist : a radical , revolutionary painter " , writer/director leigh explained , " i felt there was scope for a film examining the tension between this very mortal , flawed individual , and the epic work , the spiritual way he had of distilling the world " . 
mr. turner is a 2014 biographical drama film based around the last twenty-five years of the life and career of painter j. m. w. turner (1775 – 1851). written and directed by mike leigh, the film stars timothy spall in the title role with dorothy atkinson, paul jesson, marion bailey, lesley manville and martin savage. it premiered in competition for the palme d'or at the 2014 cannes film festival, where spall won the award for best actor and cinematographer dick pope received a special jury prize for the film's cinematography. the film was critically acclaimed and received four nominations each at the 87th academy awards and 68th british academy film awards. describing turner as " a great artist: a radical, revolutionary painter ", writer/director leigh explained, " i felt there was scope for a film examining the tension between this very mortal, flawed individual, and the epic work, the spiritual way he had of distilling the world ".
mr. turner is a 2014 biographical drama film based around the last twenty-five years of the life and career of painter j. m. w. turner (1775 – 1851). written and directed by mike leigh, the film stars timothy spall in the title role with dorothy atkinson, paul jesson, marion bailey, lesley manville and martin savage. it premiered in competition for the palme d'or at the 2014 cannes film festival, where spall won the award for best actor and cinematographer dick pope received a special jury prize for the film's cinematography. the film was critically acclaimed and received four nominations each at the 87th academy awards and 68th british academy film awards. describing turner as " a great artist: a radical, revolutionary painter ", writer/director leigh explained, " i felt there was scope for a film examining the tension between this very mortal, flawed individual, and the epic work, the spiritual way he had of distilling the world ".