Mark Jenkin's experimental time-traversing folktale, Rose of Nevada, starring Callum Turner and George MacKay, sent a shiver down my spine. The movie is set in a Cornish coastal town where the derelict harbour serves as a poignant metaphor for a community whose vitality has been drained, haunted by a fishing boat tragedy that occurred three decades prior.
A Town Haunted by Loss
In one household live the bereaved parents of a young man named Luke, who we quickly realise died long ago. In another, there is a widow whose husband went out to sea one day and never returned on a ship called… The Rose of Nevada. When this eponymous vessel reappears on shore, two young men, Nick (a doting husband and father) and Liam (someone clearly lost and searching for purpose in life), agree to help man the fishing boat to earn some extra cash. From here, it gets weird, and then weirder.
Navigating the Unknown
It is difficult to discuss the movie beyond the first ten or so minutes without giving everything away, but the strange twists and turns it takes are worth experiencing in real time. Jenkin has a firm grip of the land and seascape, and you feel the ominous lure of the ocean as much as the dour atmosphere of the rundown small town. Once on board, Francis Magee comfortably steps into the wellington boots of the hardened and foolhardy captain, guiding these two novices through the art of fishing – a practice dating back centuries.
A sinister chill coats the entire voyage, and as they pull back into harbour, Liam and Nick quickly realise everything is not as it seems. Now a vibrant microcosm, the duo have stepped back in time 30 years, where they must face the ghosts of the past, both literally and metaphorically. As Liam is swept up into a family life he never signed up for, Nick begins his desperate search to get home to his family, for whom he embarked on the ship in the first place.
Claustrophobia and Tension
While the tension between the crewmates grows, each day they find themselves back on the ship – fishing, and fishing, and fishing all to no avail – with George, Callum, and Francis all delivering grounded and solid performances that reflect the layered story. There is a horrible claustrophobia permeating the entire feature, whether they are trapped in the tinny boat that seems hardly fit to house three men without sinking like a rock, or the existential idea that they cannot escape this wrong time.
Verdict
An unnerving tale set on the sea that will stick in your brain as the credits roll. The more I think about it, the more my throat closes up. The only way out seems to be to bargain with the gods and hope they grant you passage back home. Wrapped up within this desperation are decades of grief, love, and loss to untangle, but as though by magic, as one thread is pulled, yet another unravels. A darkness runs like an undercurrent throughout the movie that threatens to pull you in – and although the idea of travelling in time seems whimsical, Rose of Nevada hammers home the horror with a grim finality.
I left the cinema feeling on edge, as though my own boat could come and whisk me away at any moment and plunge me into lands unknown. This unsettling feature will stay with anyone who watches it, whether you like it or not. Rose of Nevada premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October. It is now in UK cinemas.
