Writer and Director: Mark Jenkin
The title of his new film may suggest that Mark Jenkin, auteur of British folk horror, has packed his bags and gone to work in the American desert. But rest assured, Rose of Nevada is distinctly British, and, furthermore, absolutely the work of the acclaimed director.
In his 2019 film Bait, Jenkin shot with a vintage Bolex camera. The rapid-fired black-and-white shots charted the relationship between two brothers against a gentrifying Cornish fishing village, awash with second homes and boat trips for the tourists. For his latest film, Jenkin uses the grainy 500T Tungsten stock, which results in glorious primary colours. Rose of Nevada is set mainly in the 1990s, but the Cornish location is the same as Bait and the follow-up, Enys Men (2022).
A small trawler has reappeared in the harbour, and a self-proclaimed businessman decides to put the boat to use again. New catches of fish might revive the village, which was once a thriving fishing port, but now is a deadbeat collection of houses, with a pub on its uppers and a foodbank located in the old Post Office. He just needs a crew.
Nick (George MacKay, best known for Pride and 1917) needs the money. His roof has just sprung a leak, made worse when he puts his fist through the hole. He turns up at the Rose of Nevada on sailing day despite his neighbour’s threats that he will let the rest of the crew down. Liam (Callum Turner) arrives, down from London, it seems, and he’s desperate for cash too. They know nothing about fishing, but the captain will show them the ropes.
And off they go to catch fish. It’s hard work, and Nick ignores the words of warning etched into the wood of his bunk. But the fish are willing, and after gutting them and throwing their entrails to the hungry seagulls, Nick and Liam pack them with ice in plastic boxes. However, when the two young men come back to port, they appear to have travelled back in time.
The mystery is easy to work out, but Jenkin, in the most expensive film he has made so far, provides the intrigue with his Robert Bresson-influenced shots, more like moving portraits, with the camera angled down below looking up at its subjects. Of the two main actors, George MacKay is the most suited to this kind of filming and stylised acting, his face impassively giving little away as he stares slightly away from the camera. Callum Turner’s Liam is a more affable character, often smiling, unlike Nick, who never seems to smile at all. Occasionally, Liam’s cheerfulness is a little distracting, but it makes sense when we begin to doubt his place in the time-shifting narrative.
The colours are joyous but stark: blinding yellow waterproofs, playful red baskets for the fish, the punishing blue of the sky and the green lichen that has etched itself into the ropes. These saturated hues ensure that Rose of Nevada looks very different to Bait, but the subject matter is very similar. Both examine a fishing port on its knees and a way of life that has almost disappeared.
Rose of Nevada is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2025 from 8-19 October.
