East Preston Film Night sponsored by Cooper Adams Estate Agents presents – Mr Tu
By Shaun Adams
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NEWSLETTERTimothy Spall gives an award-winning performance in Mike Leigh's luminous drama about the great British painter. In the mid 1820s, J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall) shares a studio with his elderly father William (Paul Jesson) and housekeeper and occasional lover Hannah Danby (Dorothy Atkinson). The brilliant, if eccentric landscape artist avoids his aggrieved former mistress, Sarah Danby (Ruth Sheen) – Hannah's aunt. He also barely acknowledges the existence of their two daughters. Travelling to Margate incognito in search of artistic inspiration, he meets and forms a great passion for widowed landlady Sophia Booth (Marion Bailey). Mike Leigh's first period drama since 'Topsy-Turvy' captures perfectly Turner's complex personality and the politics of the artistic milieu in which he worked. Leigh's frequent collaborator Timothy Spall won the Best Actor Award at Cannes for his mesmerising central performance. Also rewarded was veteran Dick Pope, who won a Special Jury Prize for his breathtaking cinematography.