25/04/26

Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh

Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin may just be the most single-minded director currently working. Shooting his movies on wind-up 16mm Bolex cameras; adding all the dialogue and sound effects in post-production; writing the script; even composing the ethereal scores – it’s no surprise he’s so far produced only three full-length films. His debut, Bait (2019), was shot in black and white, but he switched to colour for Enys Men (2022), a weird folk-horror film that looked astonishing, even if it felt a little thin on story.

But with Rose of Nevada, everything finally falls into place, making this – for my money – his best offering yet. It looks extraordinary with the heightened colours of a vintage Super 8, while the intriguing time-slip storyline has me thinking about it long after I’ve left the cinema. It’s haunting in the best sense of the word.

Set in a run down, impoverished fishing village somewere in Cornwall, the story begins with the mysterious reappearance of the titular boat moored in the harbour. It has somehow returned after an absence of thirty years, apparently still in full working order. The boat was lost at sea along with its crew of three, an event that affected the entire community, but owner Mike (Edward Rowe) doesn’t hesitate to send it out again, after getting permission from Tina (Rosalind Eleazar), the widow of one of the lost men. But who will make up the crew?

Everything falls eerily into place. The Captain’s slot is filled in minutes when the mysterious ‘Murgey’ (Francis McGee) turns up asking if his services will be needed. Homeless drifter Liam (Callum Turner) is glad of anything that will earn him a few quid and keep him occupied for a while. And married man, Nick (George MacKay), needs to raise some cash in order to fix a hole in the roof of his house through which the rain is pouring, though he’s reluctant to leave his wife and little girl behind.

Out on the sea, the fishing is good – almost too good – and after hours of back-breaking toil, the crew return to the harbour to find the entire village waiting to greet them. And then it begins to dawn on them that an awful lot has changed since they were last on land…

I don’t want to reveal any more about the plot, though you’ll find plenty of other reviews that do exactly that. Suffice to say that, at its core, Rose of Nevada is all about the fishing industry, the devastating effect that Brexit has had upon it and the sense of community that somehow got lost in the process. It’s clearly a cause close to Jenkin’s heart as Bait covered similar territory – but here it’s all too easy to identify with Nick’s sense of mounting bewilderment, his doomed attempts to get back to the people he loves. To balance this, it’s understandable that Liam accepts his new role with such open enthusiasm, because it’s so much more agreeable than what he had before.

It’s these elements that could help this film achieve a much wider audience than its predecessors.

Yet, for all its appeal, the director’s unique style remains uncompromised. You can take any image and know instantly who has created it. But somehow Rose of Nevada is more than just another art project. It’s a genuinely compelling story with a powerful supernatural twist that, given half a chance, will surely get its hooks into you.

4.8 stars

Philip Caveney