Mark Jenkin's 'Bait' is a striking movie, but not a particularly subtle one. A portrait of run-down Cornish village is captured on damaged filmstock; uncommunicative characters spend a lot of time just looking at each other with speaking (but what those looks have to tell us!); the disconnection of people is conveyed through splicing together short sequences with obvious discontinuity. It's arftully done, but in some senses Jenkin has limited himself: we couldn't discover that a fisherman loves Shakespeare, or that the tourist is on the run from the police, or anything else unexpected - the visual language constrains the movie, and also renders it somewhat cold, even as its impressive how much is conveyed through scowls and silences. 'Bait' is ultimately a one-trick pony; but Jenkin's future work would seem something to anticipate eagerly.
Review of Bait
