filmit2001

After the 1st. 5 mins. I knew this film was going to be a total DRAG & so it turned out!

I lived through the 60's as an adult & am also a filmmaker & I can tell you that the depiction of those time was nothing like they were in reality in this self absorbed junk!

The reason I wanted to see the piece was because of the directors work on La La Land which I thought was fabulous! However the dark & dreary way he portrayed that period in history was totally out of touch with the reality of those times.

Needless to say that someone not even born during those times, trying to portray them requires & lot of research & something mystical in their assessment of the period & subject matter & this man has neither.

I could go on for hours finding fault with this mess but let me just suffice to say, that showing instruments on a new spacecraft that were soiled with 60 years of grime just misses the point completely. One last point; the dark & negative feel of the times as shown in this film, is an insult to the courage & sense of adventure of the people of the Golden Age of America!

This film could have been a total waste of 156 minutes but I left after about a 1/2 hr. so spared myself!! What could have been an interesting historical piece, turned into a self indulgent bit of Hollywood masturbation & total excess! It should have been entitled "DeCaprio Plays a Super Human". Give me a break... so after a Grizzly attack that would have left Superman DOA, D survives and still while bleeding & undoubtedly suffering total bodily infection from most grievous bear bites & mauling that would have killed an elephant, he goes on to continue super human feats against the slings & arrows of fortune most foul! I just wonder what drugs the director was on to make this pile of Shite??? Not even visually stunning except for a few nice lens flares but that doesn't make a feature film now does it! Total Hollywood CRAP!!

Like others have stated, the film was beautifully shot, edited, acted, & Directed but I felt like I wasted my time watching it because it portrayed Turner as a totally self absorbed, ugly SLOB that spent the whole movie Grunting & Grimacing! The fact is, that Turner in real life was a very handsome, dignified gentleman & one of England greatest artist. To portray him as Leigh did, is an outrage!

1. Cinematography; Beautiful use of the Cooke Prime lenses to capture the locations of Turners paintings.

2. Editing; The editing flowed very smoothly but I would have liked to see on screen a chronological timeflow by fading to black with dates to supplement the vague chronology of the film.

3. Acting; The acting was excellent with really no weakness in any characters. Make-up got a little extreme toward the end!

4. Directing; Once again excellent direction but with the wrong basic concept being directed!!