Director: Mark Jenkin
Cast: George Mackay, Callum Turner, Rosalind Eleazar, Francis Magee, Mary Woodvine
Screenplay: Mark Jenkin
114 mins. Not Rated.

In his newest film, writer/director Mark Jenkin (Enys Men) has conjured up a boat lost to time, one that arrives in present day with all the trappings of the past. In many ways, this sums up the style that Jenkin himself has dredged up, pulling from the past into today, creating ageless films that seem to exist in all times and in none. The dreamy tones and disturbing connotations help to make this semi-ghost story an enthralling if unevenly-paced beauty from some unknown time and place.

Decades ago, in the small fishing village of Cornwall, a fishing vessel and crew mysteriously disappeared at sea, never recovered, whereabouts unknown. Today, the boat, called the Rose of Nevada, has reappeared in the harbor. Nick (George Mackay, 1917) and Liam (Callum Turner, Eternity), both in search of work, are hired to work the boat, but when they return from their first trip, they’ve discovered that they have returned to Cornwall thirty years in the past, right after the Rose of Nevada went missing in the first place. Now, in a home just outside of time, a world they tangentially know as their own, they find their souls transforming into those of the missing crew from before their time, and they have no idea how to get home.

From the start, it’s clear that Jenkin is hearkening to the style of his previous works like Enys Men, and the aesthetic choices are absolutely incredible. Rose of Nevada looks like the type of film that would’ve gone missing at the same time as the titular boat. It’s like we’re watching something that was never supposed to be seen. The dream logic and dreamy visuals are haunting and the atmosphere so all-consuming that I was lost in the world that Jenkin has created here. The film grain and the deliberate aging feel authentic, never a gimmick, and give off an entrancing quality to the whole picture.

The narrative takes its time, sometimes a little too much, and a few of the repeat fishing trips could’ve been shortened or chopped down, as the repetitive nature tends to overtake any new information gleamed as Nick and Liam attempt to understand their situation and find a way out, but the mystery of the boat along with the individual character arcs going in unexpected directions make for a compelling story with unexpected reveals and a comfortably resolved ending that gives enough but left me with further questions to perhaps resolve on a future rewatch.

Mackay and Turner are both strong performers who make the most of their limited dialogue, and I particularly loved how they began to disappear into these lost characters from decades earlier, slipping in and out of their original forms, regressing to a person they’d never been. Two haunting performances that give Rose of Nevada some emotional impact. Francis Magee (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) is also excellent as Murgey, a veteran sailor who crews up with Nick and Liam and may hold a few secrets of his own, though it’s hard to tell what his intention or background truly is.

Rose of Nevada is a very strong piece of folk fantasy horror that fits all the best elements of director Mark Jenkin. What holds it back is the deliberate extreme slow burn that Jenkin hasn’t yet mastered, but there’s enough going on here to ponder throughout, and the implications and eerie atmosphere is palpable and worth the price of admission alone. This is an aesthetically complex and enthralling little movie well worth checking out. Don’t wait 30 years to see Rose of Nevada.

3½/5
-Kyle A. Goethe