Bait (2019)

Finally getting around to this acclaimed debut feature from Mark Jenkin, I can now join the chorus of voices singing the praises of it. Okay, it's all too late, most people will have heard about this already, and rushed to see or avoid it, depending on their personal preference.

The film focuses on Martin Ward (Edward Rowe), a fisherman who is working with the distinct disadvantage of not owning a boat. He can still just about get by, but things are getting tougher as the Cornish village he grew up in keeps moving focus slightly away from the sea in favour of a new way of making money, renting properties to people looking for scenic and unique holiday homes. This increases tension and leads to a number of confrontations.

Bait has a number of different meanings, and all of them apply to this film. It can be the morsel placed on a hook to entice fish. It can be an annoyance or a taunt, something used to anger someone. There's also an older spelling, "bate", that means "an angry mood". And if Bait can be boiled down to one emotion running throughout most of the runtime, it's an angry mood.

I'm not going to go through the technical side of things that Jenkin has explained elsewhere (you can find statements from him all over the internet, and both Wikipedia and IMDb have more information about the making of the film), but this is a unique experience, managing to be visually crude in a way that also feels beautiful and unusual, and making an interesting feature of the audio being recorded separate from the visuals. This isn't just a film. It's a texture-rich visit to a world that views interlopers as necessary evils, and Jenkin keeping us placed right alongside Ward clarifies exactly why resentment has built up over time as other ways to make a living fade away under the creeping shadow of seasonal tourism.

Rowe is fantastic in the lead role, such a natural fit for the role that it makes me think he was just a Cornish resident Jenkin persuaded to take on the role (he was actually trained at RADA before spending time as a stand-up, performing under the name Kernow King). He's intimidating in a number of key scenes, but there are many other moments that show him struggling to carry a burden that everyone else thinks he should just shrug off and leave behind him. The rest of the cast also do great work, even if they don't all feel like such a natural fit with the style of the film, but the other standouts are Simon Shepherd and Mary Woodvine, playing the couple currently residing in the childhood home of our lead.

It may sound a bit cheesy and pretentious, but Bait is an astonishing feature because it's more of an experience than a film. Jenkin has a surprisingly extensive filmography to explore, many shorts and a few other features in the mix, but it's hard to think of any of his other films matching this one. You can taste the saltwater spraying in the air, you can smell the sea (as well as the sweat and the blood), and you can imagine being handed a bagged-up selection of freshly-caught fish. Not quite perfect, but it comes pretty damn close. I'm already looking forward to rewatching it, even if I feel the urge to put on a waterproof coat and a big pair of wellie boots.

9/10

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