Bait functions on a subliminal level. A concoction of illogical insert shots, mismatched sound, and nonlinear edits, it has little regard for a cinematically conventional sense of time and space. The movie could be mistaken for amateurism (shots of clenched fists to express anger suggest this), but it ultimately registers as an avant-garde attempt to convey a simple story. In a Cornish fishing village, tensions simmer between those holding on to the vestiges of that fading livelihood and those trying to turn the locale into a tourist spot. Ground zero for this is the childhood cottage that a pair of fisherman brothers (Edward Rowe and Isaac Woodvine) have sold to a wealthy couple, who use it as a second home in the summer and also rent out to posh urbanites. The dialogue, what little there is, is painfully stilted, which brings to mind—alongside the seemingly surreal editing strategy and the grainy black-and-white cinematography—another feature debut, David Lynch’s Eraserhead. That’s hallowed company for writer-director Mark Jenkin to be in, but Bait suggests that level of promise.
(5/25/2023)
