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Mike Leigh's new film about the celebrated British artist JMW Turner, has been lauded by critics at Cannes, with some suggesting it may be in line for prizes at the festival and beyond. Varietycalled Mr Turner "a natural awards contender", while The Independent predicted its starTimothy Spall would "surely be among the front runners for the festival's best actor award". "Come awards time, expect Mr Turner to be harrumphing his way to the stage," Total Film's Jamie Graham said. The film, Leigh's first feature in four years, received its gala premiere on Thursday. The director's two-and-a-half hour opus, which dramatises episodes from Turner's life in 19th Century London and Margate, is his first period biopic since 1999's Topsy-Turvy, about Gilbert and Sullivan. However Leigh said the process of making it was "no different" than making his fictional dramas Naked, Life is Sweet and Secrets and Lies. "You can read all the books in world and do research for a million years, but it doesn't make things happen in front of the camera," the 71-year-old told reporters. "You still have to create a characterisation and breathe flesh and blood into it. Turner is obviously a great artist, one of the great painters of all time, anywhere. "I felt there was scope for a fascinating film because of the tension between this very mortal - and in some ways flawed and inspired - individual and his epic work." | 
