With his unique brand of elusive, analogue filmmaking, Cornish writer-director Mark Jenkins has cultivated a devoted following, none more loyal than those who work with him.
“He’s an artist,” actor Callum Turner ( Boys in a Boat ) exclaims with a defiant tone. “This movie is like a painting meets a poem. When I read the script, I could feel every wave, every knock and every sound; it was so resonant. I was just desperate to do it.”
The project Turner is referring to here is, of course, Nevada Rose , Jenkins’ latest feature, which debuts this afternoon at the Orizzonti competition in Venice. Turner directs the exciting picture with George MacKay ( 1917 ).
Set again in Jenkin’s native Cornwall, the film focuses on a forgotten fishing village where a boat lost at sea with all hands 30 years ago mysteriously appears in the old harbor.
Nick (MacKay) works on a boat, trying to provide for his young family. Along with him, newly arrived Liam (Turner) joins the crew, desperate to escape his past. They set out to sea and return to port after a successful voyage. But something is wrong. They have slipped back in time, and the villagers greet them as if they were the boat’s original crew.
The film is terrifyingly clever, with strong horror undertones that reminded me of the first time I encountered Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. In the area , Nevada Rose is also Jenkin’s most ambitious production to date, with complex sequences shot in harsh conditions.
McKay, who spoke to us alongside Turner while on a break from his current Sense and Sensibility shoot, says he was introduced to the project by casting director Shaheen Baig, who asked him to conduct a general meeting with Jenkin to explore a potential collaboration.
“I read a script that’s very similar to the film. It’s pared-down, but also very poetic and liminal,” explains McKay.
“So I went in with all my theories about the characters and what it all meant. And then I sat down with Mark, and we didn’t talk about the movie the whole meeting. We just talked about other movies and his process, which is obviously so specific with the Bolex camera and how that dictates how a movie is made.”
Nevada Rose, like many of Jenkin’s previous works, was shot on 16mm film using a Bolex camera. The rich, textured finish that is only possible when the celluloid is fed through a Bolex adds to the film’s haunting and intricate structure. However, the analog process also creates a unique experience on set.
“Each take was 27 seconds, and then he would put it on,” Turner recalls of Jenkins working with a hand-operated camera.
Bolex also doesn’t capture sound, so every piece of sound in the film has to be created in Post.
“There was a rigorous ADR process,” Turner explains. “You go in and do every line, sound, and groove in the film. And then Mark does that too. He did every sound you heard in the film. He did it in the studio. So he really is an artist. He presents himself as if he’s not, but he is.”
McKay describes the Bolex’s mechanical limitations as “positive boundaries” that encourage performers to “aim for more of a mark.”
“It was a lesson in being precise because you know you’re getting it, maybe two takes. We would always ask for a third take, but it was two takes,” says McKay.
Jenkin’s dedication to Bolex is all the more impressive given how much of the film is shot in and around open water, with low lighting. For extended sequences, the audience follows McKay and Turner’s characters as they perform laborious open-water fishing rituals. With my tongue firmly in my cheek, I ask the pair if they actually pull fish out of the water, or if they use tripods.
“Oh yeah, it was as realistic as possible, especially with all the fish water going down,” Turner says firmly.
Mackay says Mark sent him episodes of a TV documentary about fishermen across the UK to prepare and tasked him with observing Lee Carter, a real-life fisherman whose boat they use in the film.
“Our boat was Lee’s real boat,” says McKay. “These men are so tough. Lee showed us a picture of his hand getting caught in the winch and it looked like he could have lost it. It was a serious wound. I said, how did you fix that? He said, Well, I had some paracetamol and some vomit and got back in the boat.”
Mackay and Turker tell me that Robert Bresson’s last film, the 1983 drama L’Agent and the 2000 thriller The Perfect Storm , starring George Clooney, were influenced by Jenkin during the making of the film. However, he was not outspoken about his inspiration.
“It was more about referencing how he’s made films before, rather than referencing others,” says McKay.
And like Jenkin’s previous films, the ending of Nevada Rose is powerful but ambiguous. I’ll refrain from discussing it here to avoid spoilers. But I posed a killer question to Turner and McKay: What do you think it all means? They, like Jenkin, were reluctant to share a definitive answer.
“That’s Mark’s genius. He always says he doesn’t like endings. He doesn’t want to spoil it for the audience,” Turner says. “He wants them to have their own spiritual journey watching the movie. It’s put out there for you to make your own decision.”
Nevada Rose also stars Francis Magee, Edward Rowe, Rosalind Eleazar, Mary Woodvine and Adrian Rawlins. The film was produced by Denzil Monk. The cast includes AMA Ampadu, Farhana Bhula, Phil Hunt, Johnny Maza, Ben Bond, Kingsley Marshall and Neil Fox. The film is handling international sales.
After Venice, the film will play the New York and London film festivals.
Venice runs until September 6th.
