Nevada Rose

A delightfully unnerving modern day time travel film from director Mark Jenkin set in a Cornish fishing village where a once lost at sea fishing boat mysteriously turns up in the old harbour without its crew and when it goes out to sea again its new crew find things aren’t quite the same as they were when they return to the old port. Rose of Nevada is released in cinemas on 24 April and on BFI Blu-ray and BFI Player this summer.

The arrival of the fishing trawler without its crew sends murmurs throughout the village that it is the return of a boat thought lost at sea with all its crew. Nonetheless, it is readied to go back out to fish again under Captain Murgey (Francis Magee), an old sea-hand who is joined by Nick (George MacKay), who needs the work to provide for his family and home, and fellow shipmate Liam (Callum Turner), who is looking to turn his luck around and get back on his feet again.

They set out to sea, which is captured with a documentary like appreciation of a trawler’s work, reconstructing the crew faring the salty sea conditions to haul in the fish before gutting and boxing them up in ice for market. There is a slow build up of tension as nothing untoward really happens except for the occasional sign that all is not what it seems amongst the disorientating rocking of the boat. The boat eventually returns to harbour and the young crew realise something strange has happened, the village characters have changed and they have travelled back in time to before the boat was lost at sea. Liam is slightly less concerned about this than Nick who finds himself completely panicked by what is happening.

The authenticity of the Cornish fishing community is highlighted by the almost unintelligible dialect of the sea captain that often needs subtitles. Played by Francis Magee (a fisherman for many years in real life), he manages the young men on the boat, showing them the ropes and giving them their day’s money with a warm sea shanty firmness.

Written, directed, edited and sound designed by Mark Jenkin, and shot in his preferred 16mm format, which gives the film an extra dynamic to its story telling, playing on the senses like a home movie retelling of past memories. The sound design brings its own unique contemporary arrangement to enhance the suspense on the mysterious boat and the unsettling transformation of the village, which the two young men now find themselves in. Adding to the confusion, the numerous cutaways on 16mm provide a subliminal effect giving the film a dizzying b-movie arthouse appeal that permeates the consciousness staying with you long after the film finishes.

The stylised imperfections of 16mm gives the film the hallmarks of an old UK cult classic in this ‘lo-fi folk horror’ created by a UK director whose specialism in the eerie and unusual from the southern coast of the UK makes entertaining alternative viewing.