Mr. Turner (2014)
I have to ask, did this film really need to be 2 and a half hours long? I stopped watching about an hour in and we still had as yet to see any kind of story. Certainly seeing a visit from William Turner's illegitimate family was quite an interesting scene, as was the visit from Mary Somerville, a contemporary scientist. But in neither of those scenes is William Turner the most interesting element. In one scene it is revealed that Turner has a horrendous singing voice in a scene unconnected to any wider narrative and yet strangely the film seems to expect me to be moved by the song, while I listen to his interminable rendition.
There's a whole scene depicting Turner renting out a flat in Margate, only for Turner to immediately return to London. Why?
My main takeaway from a whole hour sitting and watching this film is that William Turner was a wholly uninteresting figure who liked to make regular reference to Greek myths.
The way the film captures the period is great. Timothy Spall is a fantastic performer and does the best possible job with the material. But I like some drama along with the costumes in my costume dramas and there is simply no drama here for Spall to convey. Mike Leigh's general trend in his films is to promote naturalism above story, so we get to watch Turner milling about, waiting and hoping that something will happen that thrills us. This is the Paranormal Activity of costume dramas. A film where we are waiting to spot something interesting because there is no story to invest in.
Ungraded