Man is an island Mike Leigh's latest (his latest set in an earlier period, costumes and locations and all) Mr. Turner seems to take its cue from its eponymous character, an unfriendly, uncompromising, uncommunicative creature, except on specific occasions (usually his social equals; in one special case a woman--and even then he wouldn't say who he really was). He crosses entire countrysides in his unhurried gait, seemingly unaware of the gorgeous nature surrounding him--the rolling hills and suntinted seas and massive pillars of cumulonimbus--until he gets home and smears paint on the canvas, and you gradually irrevocably realize, to your not inconsiderable surprise, that this curt compact densely constructed little gnome of a man is actually a master of light and color.
