Cert: 15 / 89 mins / Dir. Mark Jenkin / Trailer
I must confess to taking far too long to catch Bait in a cinema, but am massively grateful I was able to manage it. A labour of love, Mark Jenkin wrote and shot the film himself in West Penwith and Charlestown in Cornwall, before hand-developing the film in his Newlyn studio, then re-recording and dubbing all the sound in post-production.
For such a personal project, the result would be Quirky™ if it wasn't so beautifully raw. You can almost smell the harbour, and the crackles and scratches here are very, very real.
Our central character is Martin, a fisherman with no boat. Down at heel but too proud to give up and too low on options to try anything else. He's already starting to feel like an anachronism in his own time. On top of this, there's an escalating tension between the coastal town's locals, its tourists and the DFLs*1. Don't let the sleepy location fool you into thinking this will be a twee ride.
Set in the present day and about very modern tensions, the film still has a timeless dramatic edge. More a snapshot/mood-board than a strict A>B narrative, but that's fine when it's this well laid-out. Bait is a masterclass in analogue storytelling, a sensory overload of texture both visually and audibly, the grain of the film complementing the coastline and its characters.
I love that this exists, and exists in cinemas, in 2020 and only wish I'd seen it sooner. Bait is glorious, the least-depressing grim movie I've seen in some time.
As predictable as this is, make Bait a double-bill with Fisherman's Friends.
Not even sorry.
Hell yeah.
Bait is available to buy now on Blu-ray and DVD.
Buy it. Buy it now..
Mark Jenkin's future looks bright.
If you think it's not an instant stone-cold classic, yes.
There isn't.
Despite an absolutely perfect slot for one.
Level 2: Simon Shepherd is in this and he was in that Rogue Trader with Ewan 'Kenobi' McGregor.
*1 'Down From London'. Having worked in a fishing town (albeit in Kent), I can assure you that the sighing, tutting and dramatic begrudging here is entirely accurate, as locals want to preserve the unique and rustic nature of the town while knowing that it can't continue without the tourism and inevitable expansion that always threatens to homogenise it. [ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
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