Bait *** (2019, Edward Rowe, Mary Woodvine, Simon Shepherd, Giles King) – Movie Review

Writer/ director Mark Jenkin’s Bait (2019) is a bold independent experimental film focusing on a brother brother conflict and the clash between tourism and the old fishing boat values down old Cornwall way. It runs like a black and white silent film with dialogue.

The black and white filming on a Bolex 16mm camera with an aspect ratio of 4:3, giving grainy narrow, alienating images, plus weirdly unsettling closeups of boots or parts of faces or seemingly irrelevant details, single-line bursts of dialogue and flashes of surrealism, all add up to a commendably bold experiment as an art film. And the film is full of interesting ideas and characters. So Bait is undeniably fascinating, but it is also hard work and not easy to sit through, even at 89 minutes, very commendable though it is.

Edward Rowe brings considerable scary weight, conviction and gravitas to his main role as menacing Cornish cove fisherman Martin Ward, a displaced, angry hero a without a boat, a livelihood or his original home. Rowe creates a memorably brooding character. Giles King plays his brother Steven, who has re-purposed their late father’s vessel as a tourist tripper, creating a gulf between the two men.

The brothers’ childhood home has been taken over as a get-away for the London money of the odious married couple Sandra and Tim Leigh (Mary Woodvine and Simon Shepherd, excellently slimy), who are blithely running it as a Airbnb, while Martin is relegated to living in the estate above the harbour, though provocatively still parking his vehicle outside their home. It is a little powderkeg. Martin’s attempts to turn back the clock and restore the old status quo are tragically doomed.

Commendably also, the BFI have picked Bait up for distribution. It is just the sort of film they should be supporting.

Also in the cast are Chloe Endean, Isaac Woodvine, Georgia Ellery, Jowan Jacobs, Stacey Guthrie, Tristan Sturrock and Martin Ellis. It is also shot, edited and scored by Mark Jenkin.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Movie Review

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