Mr. Turner Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Mr. Turner Blu-ray Movie Review

A romantic portrait of an unromantic man.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 16, 2015

Mr. Turner is neither the story of art nor the tale of an artist, at least not as a central focus. It's instead a portrait of a life, an oftentimes strange and occasionally challenging journey along a somewhat vague, almost random collection of glimpses, snapshots crafted with a delicate simplicity whereby the easy outward flow and basic cadence slowly give shape to an inwardly complicated man. Writer/Director Mike Leigh (Another Year) focuses his attention not on the canvas, the style, or even the setting -- though certainly all of those are richly, and rightly, on display, but not anywhere close to a movie-defining level, not when considering the picture's core, anyway -- but instead the man, a man of simple needs but demanding more from others, a man who worked a canvas with broad strokes but created nuanced masterpieces, a man who craved life's simple pleasures but who contributed some of the world's most astonishing works of arts, a man who was both adored and dismissed by the public and his contemporaries, a man who carried heavy burdens but who lived, largely, without wearing them on his sleeve. As was the artist, Leigh's film offers an uneasy but majestic glimpse of contrast, simplicity, and genius; the film reflects the character and the character the film, resulting in a beautiful symbiosis of subject and style that's amongst the most beautiful, absorbing, externally simple, and inwardly complex films of 2014.

Turner.

J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall) is a man of simple tastes and great talent. With his father's (Paul Jesson) help -- he shops for supplies, helps mix the paint, and, literally, brings home the bacon -- he crafts masterpiece landscape paintings in a basic, unkempt studio from sketches he creates from various first-person excursions, from serene landscapes to brutal storms at sea. Turner is a man with a master's hand but a commoner's demeanor. He's hasty, enigmatic, and crude. He speaks bluntly and often verbalizes only with a series of grunts and groans. The Turners live with a housemaid (Dorothy Atkinson) who cares for them, lives with psoriasis, and accepts the younger Turner's carnal sexual advances. Turner is also father to two illegitimate daughters whom he barely acknowledges. He exhibits his works for sale in a makeshift studio that drips water from and catches dead insects in its hastily constructed cloth ceiling. He's a member in good, if not misunderstood, standing at the Royal Art Academy. The film follows the last quarter-century of his life.

Mr. Turner's story offers a jarring, but beautiful, contrast between a master artist and the man of basic wants and needs who is practically primal outside of the art gallery. The contrasts couldn't be more striking. Turner lives with a perpetual scowl on his face and communicates by way of coarse and curt guttural sounds because they effectively communicate what needs to be conveyed. He's a man who feasts on pig's cheek, who gropes women and has his way with them when the need arises. There's nothing remarkable about the life, nothing that would in any way suggest the genius that lies beneath the coarse surface. But as is evident in his work -- even as it's created seemingly with haste, in a somewhat disorganized studio, crafted by way of sloppy strokes and, sometimes, spit and other nontraditional supplies, brought to vivid life from only a haphazard sketch -- there's an unmistakable beauty, grace, and perfection inside the man, created not by the poised, proper people whose portraits appear in the history books but instead a slovenly, simple man of practically primitive persuasions. It's from this stark juxtaposition where the film finds its most enthralling core storyline, but perhaps even more rawly fascinating is the performance that brings the man to life.

Mr. Turner sees Timothy Spall in a transformative role as the guttural, rotund, walking contradiction of an artist. The work is a revelation, one of the great performances of a raw, unrefined, simple man whose outward appearance and manner isn't reflective of what's inside. Spall's is perhaps the best performance of this sort since Bill Bob Thornton's commanding, classic turn in Sling Blade. In Mr. Turner, Spall finds that balance between creative genius and total absence of external refinement with a brilliant effortlessness that's conveyed with every grunt, waddling step, grope, and stroke. His command of the character is unrelentingly fascinating in the delicate balance the movie demands. He melts into his environment, where, outside of the art gallery, he fits like a glove amongst the simple things, the raw materials, the basic living tools. His co-stars, from the top down, also blend into the world with him, each benefitting certainly from Spall's mastery of the mood but also the film's strikingly detailed yet necessarily pedestrian set design and costuming, aided by simple direction and strikingly efficient cinematography that strikes the right chord between elegant and raw while masterfully reflecting the core stylings of Turner's own work, certainly befitting the film and capturing the tone with as much visual complexity as its performer demonstrates with every master stroke.

Mr. Turner Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mr. Turner features a rich, detailed, lived-in 1080p transfer. Though the digital photography leaves it looking mildly flat and sterile, there's enough in the way of gorgeously raw and earthy textures to allow the image to shine. Scraped woods, worn-down accents, little odds and ends around the studio, stone exteriors, lush landscapes, and dirt terrain are all magnificently complex and effortlessly realistic. Facial close-ups reveal every nuance, whether wrinkly lines or Hannah's unsightly psoriasis. Clothing textures are likewise neat and orderly. Colors are well defined, though the image favors a mildly yellow tint that's reflective of Turner's paintings. There are a lot of earthy browns and grays but also some nice splashes of color, red walls in Turner's makeshift gallery and rolling green landscapes being the prime examples. Blacks are inky and healthy and flesh tones are reflective of the film's purposeful tint. The image struggles with no major bouts of noise, banding, or other eyesores. This is a top-quality effort from Sony.

Mr. Turner Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mr. Turner features a rich, though oftentimes subtly so, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music is airy and of high quality, offering good precision spacing and instrumental detail with subtle back channel drift. The film springs to life with easy, natural ambience of various types, including chirping birds, seagulls, light breezes, rustling grasses, and general street-level background din. A nice bit of crowd applause envelops the listener in chapter 12. Heavier effects are presented with natural definition and weight, whether a few smacks of a hammer onto a wooden surface or crashing waves and rolling thunder in chapter nine. Dialogue is clear and accurate, bringing out every nuance of Spall's many guttural grunts and harshly edged verbalizations.

Mr. Turner Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mr. Turner contains the following supplements:

• Audio Commentary: Writer/Director Mike Leigh, in a comfortable and even manner, discusses the film's style, shooting locations, the opening titles, the man who is the film's subject, performances, research into the character and world, the film's timeframe and drift away from traditional "Biopic" structure, cinematography, sexuality in the film, the Royal Academy of Arts location, the on-screen painting process, story specifics, and more. This is terrific companion piece to a wonderful film.
• The Cinematic Palette: The Cinematography of Mr. Turner (1080p, 16:45): A look at Writer/Director Mike Leigh's style and work, attention to detail, the unique film assembly process, the absence of sweeping CGI but still crafting the film to resemble a Turner painting, tuning the color to Turner's palette, shooting several key scenes, magical moments in the shoot, wardrobe uniformity, constructing the art gallery set, and more.
• The Many Colours of Mr. Turner (1080p, 31:50): A look at the long process of getting the film from idea to screen, a glimpse into production meetings, Turner's period and style, his character contrasts, secondary characters and their relationships with Turner, the core events of the timeframe the film depicts, Spall's painting tutorials, costumes and shooting locations, borrowed and replicated art and images, tertiary cast and characters, sets and shooting locations, and more.
• Billiards (1080p, 1:10): An additional scene.
• Mr. Turner Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:11).
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Mr. Turner Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mr. Turner is a beautiful, enthralling film that juxtaposes beauty and the beast, here not two separate or disparate entities but rather the duality of a single man who lives simply and paints elegantly, who seeks pleasure through the most basic, carnal ways but who creates masterpieces of complex harmony and wonder. The movie is a masterwork of characterization that's made possible by superb direction, exacting cinematography, and wondrous, mood-setting costuming and set design but sold by Spall's career-defining performance that was easily the single most glaring Oscar acting snub in recent years. Sony's Blu-ray release of Mr. Turner features strong video, excellent audio, and a quality assortment of extra content. Very highly recommended.