Bait

In a Cornish fishing village, Martin is stuck on land because his brother has turned the family boat over to tourist trips, and he is looking for somewhere to set his nets. Their old house has been sold to a family from London and the shore is full of holidaymakers. Mark Jenkin shot it on sixteen millimetre black and white with a clockwork Bolex and hand-processed the film himself, which is where the scratches, blotches and flicker come from. All the sound was added later, so there is a slight drift between lips and voice, and that strangeness feeds the tension. The story is a class conflict about who belongs here and who is passing through. It is a rare formal experiment in British independent film. Who it is for: viewers who want formal experiment and British social realism at once. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a clean image and clean sound, since both are damaged on purpose.