Bainbridge directs The Turner Exhibit with panache and style, offering a fantastic visual experience. The way he utilizes the mixed formats of still photos, home video, and traditional narrative cameras is exciting and visceral. He also elicits strong performances from his cast. Callum, in particular, as Anthony, who wishes to exert more control over every aspect of his life, is fantastic. The way he retreats into himself at any sign of actual conflict offers an engaging glimpse at a man who may not even realize all the ways he is broken.
Pawk also reaches deep inside to a well of intense passion. Her best moments involve spoilers, but without giving anything away, Pawk nails her complicated role in every scene. The rest of the cast all also do excellent work. Bainbridge is a good director and understands what his group of actors need to make the characters’ emotional plight ring true.
“…amounts to nothing more than a fleeting glimpse of lives starting to spiral out of control.”
This is what makes the screenplay’s lack of focus and sudden conclusion so frustrating. Again, spoiling things would be unfair to all the hard work everyone involved put into the film’s production. As such, this might be a bit too vague to make much sense, hopefully not though. The Turner Exhibit amounts to nothing more than a fleeting glimpse of lives starting to spiral out of control. But, the engaging part of such a story is the descent. Their downward trajectory is the story that hooks the viewer. As it stands, this short is a story of a stuck up family and a hardworking one who have a few odd things happen to them without finding out why. Where’s the interest in that?
Matthew Bainbridge is a stylish visual storyteller, and he has assembled a crackerjack cast. But a short film such as The Turner Exhibit needs to know precisely when to begin and end its story. Shorts don’t have the luxury of lengthy introductions or a slow burn build-up to an elaborate reveal. Despite all the good present in the film, it is not aware of that. This means that it never seems to actually get anywhere until the final minute. But then the fallout of happens is not observed either. So, what was the point?
"…...a short film...needs to know precisely when to begin and end its story."
