Mark Jenkin

Rose of Nevada

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Liam and Nick in yellow oilskins

If it’s artisan film-making you’re after, authenticity guaranteed, then Mark Jenkin is your man. Rose of Nevada is his second film since he slapped critical acclaim about with Bait, his Cornwall-set black-and-white tale of a left-behind town and the awful DFL (Down From London) weekenders who regularly turn up looking for, yes, authenticity. Since then Jenkin has come back with Enys Men, spooky folk horror of sorts. And now this, a tale set in a Cornish fishing town whose better days seem to be returning, at least as an echo, in a time-travelling turn of events. Since Bait, as Jenkin’s profile has risen, he’s started employing more expensive stars and – he’d probably … Read more

Enys Men

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Close up of Mary Woodvine

How the hell do you follow Bait? A movie made for nothing shot on 16mm on a wind-up Bolex, an experiment, more or less, which somehow got off Dr Frankenstein’s table and made it into the big wide world. If you don’t know what I’m talking about… shakes head. Enys Men is the answer, writer/director Mark Jenkin’s bold sideways move into colour but using the same basic equipment – wind-up camera, 16mm film (later digitised and then massively colour graded) – and with the sound post-dubbed. A tiny crew, a handful of actors, with the vast bulk of the action focusing on Mary Woodvine, who plays The Volunteer, a woman on a remote … Read more