The film is gorgeous but boring as hell!
I am not English and i don't know who the eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner was before i went to a screening the other night. Timothy Spall won best actor at Cannes for his performance and was recently awarded the same accolade by the New York Film Critics but i was not wowed. Perhaps because i had a bad stomach the night i saw the movie? Or perhaps the movie was just really bad that i didn't appreciate (outside of the cinematography and production design) everything else that have countless critics lavishing the movie with praises. I left the screening after one hour.
The film opens with an extended shot of two country maids walking leisurely by a swamp with a majestic windmill in the background. The scene ends with a gorgeously composed shot of Mr. Turner in the middle of the golden field drawing on his notebook his rendition of the scenery before him. Then it heads to a beautifully rendered title credits.
After the title credits, the movie jumps to a scene in the city with Mr. Turner returning to his home where his maid welcomes him full of sexual longing. He responds by touching her breast and feeling her crotch area. The act was enough to bring a satisfactory smile to the maid. And i dozed off.
When i awoke, Mr. Turner was in the company of fellow artists in the Royal Academy with a lady trying to play the piano. And i dozed off again.
When i awoke, Mr. Turner was on a ship, where i first noticed the impeccable costumes worn by the cast. The ship docks in an English island where Mr. Turner meets an innkeeper who i believe would later become his mistress. And i dozed off again.
When i awoke, I decided to leave the theatre. On my way out, two other guys were quietly leaving the cinema as well.
Rating: No Rating. Kudos stars for the impressive technical elements.
XXX
Raymond Lo
Very disappointing. No tension, no insights, no story, no beauty, no mystery, no nothing.
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