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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW SOU's Academia Latina program helps incoming high schoolers learning to lead ... Ashland Calendar, Saturday, Aug. 8 ... Herb Rothschild Jr.: Affirmative actions ... SOU's Academia Latina program helps incoming high schoolers learning to lead ... Ashland Calendar, Saturday, Aug. 8 ... Herb Rothschild Jr.: Affirmative actions ... Movie review: Timothy Spall steps up to the palette as the artist J.M.W. Turner Comment DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Jan. 9, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted Jan. 9, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News By Ed Symkus More Content Now British actor Timothy Spall had been a featured actor in four of British writer-director Mike Leigh’s films before “Mr. Turner.” Now he gets to be the star, playing the 19th century British landscape and seascape artist J.M.W. Turner, and so completely owning the role, he earned Best Actor honors at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows the last couple of decades in Turner’s life (1775-1851), but it doesn’t really tell very much about him – about what drove him to create his big, sweeping oils, about why his family life fell apart, about why he was secretive to the point of making up stories about himself when he met new people. But that’s not a fault. It actually makes him more interesting and mysterious as a person. Leigh, as he’s done with all of his films before this, created the script with his actors, slowly developing it over a period of months, honing it in rehearsals, and finally whipping it into tight, shooting shape. The story, or lack of one, involves Turner either out on his own in some far-flung field, sketching a scene that would later become a painting, or dealing with the people around him, most of whom he couldn’t care a fig about, with only a couple of exceptions. Spall, who studied painting, and focused on the style of Turner, for about two years before filming began, presents us with a sour man whose main expression is a scowl. Returning from one of his searches for just the right field or hillside, all he says to his dowdy, apparently long-suffering housekeeper Hannah (Dorothy Atkinson) is, “My journey home was execrable.” Still, Hannah seems happy to see him, but she, too, is a mystery, as is their odd relationship, making the film almost as much about her as about him. Hannah is actually one of the people he likes. He at least takes the time to use words with her. Quite often throughout the film, Spall is grunting or snorting in reaction to others’ questions and comments, as Turner was known to do. Spall also spits on his canvases (something to do with blending his colors) and sometimes attacks his canvas with his brush – again, as Turner was said to have done. Part of Turner’s mysterious side is spelled out with a visit from his shrewish ex-wife Sarah (Ruth Sheen) who, dragging along their two daughters and new grandchild, doesn’t even attempt to hide her contempt for him. Yet their back story remains unexplained. Later in the film, when someone asks him if he has any children, he says no. Why does he lie about that? Indeed, why, when he travels from London and rents a room in the seaside town of Margate, does he use a pseudonym? And even later, when a gentleman in the new field of photography asks what he does for a living, why does Turner tell him he’s a lawyer? Is he a serial liar? It’s never explained. Nor is his bad attitude toward other artists in his circle, most notably his chief rival of the day, the landscape artist John Constable (James Fleet). Still, these are not complaints. All of this behavior continually adds to the atmosphere of the film, and keeps us wondering about Turner. Leigh regularly places him at an easel in his sun-drenched studio and, in the film’s one attempt to show where the creative spark comes from, shows him researching the idea of painting a storm at sea by having himself lashed to a mast while a ship plows through a huge squall. The film emerges as a study of a talented artist with a tortured soul. There’s no doubt some happiness for him when he’s out in nature or the elements. And Leigh has come up with gorgeous settings for him to explore. But Spall skillfully keeps Turner’s emotions pent up, stuck inside. Turner gets a chance at and goes for a different kind of happiness in the company of the widow Mrs. Booth (Marion Bailey) from whom he rents the room in Margate. But the film goes on to the point where, as history tells us, Turner’s work starts to lose favor with the public, then further to when his health starts failing. He still manages to find some satisfaction and, yes, even happiness, but a general feeling of sadness creeps in at the very end when Leigh, working subtly and craftily, moves viewers’ attentions over to poor, decrepit Hannah rather than letting them linger on Turner. Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now. MR. TURNER Written and directed by Mike Leigh With Timothy Spall, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Ruth Sheen Rated R DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Jan. 9, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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