MR. TURNER (2014) – My rating: 7/10

While Mr. Turner was nominated for various awards, it was not an easy watch.  It’s a British, German and French biographical piece written about a well respected but not so well liked painter named Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851).  Turner (Timothy Spall) started painting as a young boy who had a love and passion for his father and his art.  Despite a couple of lovers, Mr. Turner was never married.  He did have two unacknowledged daughters by his first love, Sarah Danby (Ruth Sheen).   Hannah Danby (Dorothy Atkinson) was Mr. Turner’s devoted housekeeper for 40 years, whom he exploited sexually.  Hannah suffered from Psoriasis as well as a one sided love affair, as Turner never returned her feelings.  There are many characters in this film from Mr. Turner’s Society friends to the many visitors who came to view his paintings.  In my opinion,  the film was slow and the story, quite weird.  Mr. Turner himself was eccentric and without morals.  The film wasn’t released to DVD until this May and for some reason, I had never seen it featured in the movie theaters.  There are some profound scenes that may need some explaining elsewhere, like the original book or a website that better depicts the story.  Despite it all, I still liked the movie.  It’s was somewhat interesting, at best.  The acting was very good and there were some interesting characters.

[MR. TURNER is nominated for Cinematography]