‘Rose Of Nevada’ review: George MacKay and Callum Turner star in Mark Jenkin’s atmospheric time-travel tale

Dir/scr: Mark Jenkin. UK. 2025. 114mins

For his third characteristic following Bait and Enys Males, the UK’s Mark Jenkin returns to the placement and themes which have preoccupied his work and delivers extra of the identical. That’s no unhealthy factor, significantly for followers of his atmospheric people tales and, with its comparatively simple narrative, this could possibly be his most accessible prospect but. A story of Cornish fisherman who discover themselves travelling again in time, it successfully combines acquainted style tropes with Jenkin’s distinctive visible model and a resonant message of group.

There’s an actual sense that Jenkin is having some enjoyable with this premise

Jenkin’s 2019 debut Bait, a few beleaguered Cornish fishing village, premiered at Berlin and went on to win a Bafta for excellent debut. His follow-up, the Nineteen Seventies-set Cornish thriller Enys Males, which performed Cannes Administrators Fortnight, moved extra in direction of horror and now Rose Of Nevada, which bows in Venice Horizons earlier than taking part in Toronto, continues in that very same vein. The narrative hits acquainted style beats and that, along with the casting of Brit stars George Mackay (1917, The Finish) and Callum Turner (The Boys In The Boat, the upcoming Eternity), may assist broaden Jenkin’s viewers.

As is his wont, Jenkin (who additionally serves as cinematographer and editor) units up his story like a jigsaw of briskly edited vignettes that viewers should try to piece collectively. A person and a lady focus on what to do a few unusual boat within the harbour, the titular Rose Of Nevada. A household man makes an attempt to patch up his crumbling home. A stranger arrives within the village. These indirect sequences are peppered with close-ups of rusting metallic and decaying boats, proof of a spot in severe decline.

That place is a as soon as thriving Cornish coastal village, the fishing trade having eroded to such a level that a lot of the remaining inhabitants are pressured to depend on the native meals financial institution. Quickly, it transpires that the Rose Of Nevada has mysteriously reappeared after sinking 30 years beforehand, with all palms misplaced. Fisherman Mike (Bait star Edward Rowe) believes, in opposition to all apparent logic, that the return of the boat is an effective omen, and plans to crew her up and ship her out.

There’s an actual sense that Jenkin is having some enjoyable with this premise, leaning into its barely hokey style parts. There’s a white-haired crone dolling out warnings, an ominous message scratched into wooden. Cheekily, at one level Nineteen Eighties psychological horror The Useless Zone performs on a TV. Taking pictures once more in grainy 16mm on previous wind-up Bolex cameras, with a claustrophobic, boxy facet ratio, Jenkin has created a textured, timeless piece that, at occasions, pleasingly recollects Nineteen Seventies supernatural TV dramas. Once more, he’s created all sound and dialogue in put up, which lends the movie a fittingly disjointed, uncanny high quality.

That sound design actually involves the fore when the boat units sail, crewed by salty captain Murgey (Francis Magee), softly-spoken household man Nick (Mackay) and brash out-of-towner Liam (Turner who, like Mackay, is a former Display Star Of Tomorrow). The grating of the winches, the screeching of the gulls, it’s all turned as much as near-uncomfortable ranges; typically the boat appears to scream by means of the water. On board, the repetitive nature of this conventional guide labour – fishing, gutting, packing – turns into virtually hypnotic. However when the trio return to shore, their hull groaning with catch, Nick and Liam are shocked to find that they’ve returned to 1993, and the city is as soon as once more vigorous and vibrant color.

They’re additionally mistaken for different males; individuals consider Liam to be Alan, who went down with the unique Rose, whereas Nick appears to have assumed the identification of Luke, whose guilt over leaving the Rose crew short-handed led him to commit suicide. (That occasion destroyed Luke’s mom (Mary Woodvine) who, 30 years on, turns into that white-haired crone.) Whereas Nick is determined to get house, Liam appears extra sanguine – significantly when he will get concerned with Alan’s spouse Tina (Sluggish Horses star Rosalind Eleazar) and younger daughter.

The robust forged all perceive what Jenkin expects; there’s a deliberateness within the performances that typically swings in direction of melodrama – solely Turner is notably extra pure and relaxed as outsider Liam – however that’s precisely the proper vibe right here. Mackay is the emotional coronary heart of the story, sympathetic as a person who has discovered himself in an unattainable state of affairs and solely desires to get again to regular. However Nick’s regular could come on the detriment of a whole group, and his sluggish acceptance of that truth turns into the movie’s actual journey.