With his unique brand as an elusive analog filmmaker, the writer-director of Cornwall Mark Jenkin cultivated a devoted group of followers, no more faithful than those who work with him.
“It’s an artist”, actor Callum Turner (The boys of the boatexclaims in a provocative tone. “This film is like a painting encounters a poem. By reading the script, I could feel each vague, each stroke and each sound; it was so resonant. I was desperate to do it.”
The Turner project refers here Nevada RoseJenkin’s last feature film, who made his debut this afternoon in the Orizzonti competition in Venice. Turner leads the attractive photo with George Mackay (1917).
Once again taking place in the native Cornwall of Jenkin, the film focuses on a forgotten fishing village where the Nevada rose, a boat that was lost at sea with all hands 30 years ago, mysteriously appears in the old port.
Nick (Mackay) takes a job on the boat to try to support his young family. Besides him, Liam (Turner) newly arrived joins the crew, desperate to escape his past. They head for the sea and, after a successful trip, return to the port. But something is wrong. They fell back in time and the villagers greet them as if they were the original crew of the boat.
The film is terribly intelligent, with strong horror notes which reminded me the first time that I met Stanley Kubrick The brilliant. Nevada Rose is also the most ambitious production of Jenkin to date, with developed sequences made in difficult conditions.
Mackay, who spoke to us alongside Turner during a break with his current Meaning and sensitivity Shot, says he was presented to the project by casting director Shaheen Baig, who asked him to have a general meeting with Jenkin to explore a potential collaboration.
“I read the script, which looks a lot like the film. It’s austere, but also very poetic and liminal, ”explains Mackay.
“So I entered with all my theories on the characters and what all this means. And then I sat with Mark, and we did not talk about the film for all the meeting. We just talked about other films and its process, which is obviously so specific with the Bolex camera and how it dictates the way the film is made.”
Rose du Nevada, Like many previous works by Jenkin, was shot on a 16 mm film using a Bolex camera. The rich and textured finish, only possible when the celluloid was powered by a Bolex, adds to the haunting and complex structure of the film. However, the analog process is also a unique experience on the set for distribution.
“Each socket was 27 seconds, then he would finish it,” recalls Jenkin Turner working the hand -treated camera.
The Bolex does not capture the sound either, so each piece of sound of the film must be created in post.
“There was a rigorous ADR process,” said Turner. “You enter and interpret each line, the sound and the groan of the film. And then Mark does too. He made all the sounds you hear in the film. He did it in a studio. So, he is really an artist. He presents himself as no, but he is.”
Mackay describes the mechanical restrictions of the Bolex as “positive borders” which encourage interpreters to “target the brand more”.
“It was a lesson to be exact, because you know you have one, maybe two catches. We were still asking for a third catch, but it was two Max sockets, ”explains Mackay.
Jenkin’s dedication to Bolex is all the more impressive given the quantity of this film shot in and around free water, on boats, with low light. For prolonged scenes, the public follows the characters of Mackay and Turner performing the laborious rituals of free water fishing. With my tongue firmly in my cheek, I asked the pair if it was a question of transporting the fish out of the water, or did they use stand-ins?
“Oh yes, it was as real as possible, especially when all the water of the fish goes down the back,” says Turner firmly.
Mackay says that Mark sent him episodes of a television documentary on the fishermen of the United Kingdom to prepare and asked him to observe Lee Carter, the real life fisherman whose boat they use in the film.
“Our boat was Lee’s real boat,” says Mackay. “These men are so hard. Lee showed us a photo of his hand that got into a winch, and it seemed to have lost it. It was a serious injury. I said, how did you sort it? He said, well, I had a paracetamol and a Vimto and I came back to the boat.”
Mackay and Turker tell me that Robert Bressson’s latest film, the 1983 drama Moneyand the thriller 2000 The perfect stormWith George Clooney, were influences for Jenkin during production. However, he was not normative with his inspirations.
“It was more a question of referring to the way he made films in the past rather than references others,” explains Mackay.
And like the previous films of Jenkin, Nevada RoseThe end is strong but ambiguous. I will refrain from discussing it here to avoid spoilers. But I ask the question of killer in Turner and Mackay: What do you think it means? They, like Jenkin, were reluctant to share a final response.
“He is the genius of Mark. He always says that he does not like the ends. He does not want to ruin him for the public,” said Turner. “He wants them to have their own spiritual journey by watching the film. He is put there for you to make your own decision.”
Nevada Rose Also put Francis Magee, Edward Rowe, Rosalind Eleazar, Mary Woodvine and Adrian Rawlins. The film was produced by Denzil Monk. Executive producers are Ama Ampadu, Farhana Bhula, Phil Hunt, Johnny Feleings, Ben Bond, Kingsley Marshall and Neil Fox. Protagonist Pictures manages international sales.
After Venice, the film will play film festivals in New York and London.
Venice runs until September 6.
