What a difference 85 years can make. In the decades since nonfiction pioneer Robert Flaherty developed the aesthetic that is irresistibly evoked by U.K. experimental filmmaker Mark Jenkin in his 2019 feature debut, the categorization of Flaherty’s films has evolved as his fidelity to what we now accept as documentary truth has been debunked.
But today, the tension that exists in Jenkin’s hand-processed, 16mm, black-and-white “Bait” is not between real and staged — indeed, the archly antiqued technique, from the warm, scratched fuzz of the film’s surface to the beautifully creaky and ever-so-slightly out-of-sync post-dubbing of dialogue and sound effects, consistently reminds us that we’re watching fiction. Instead, the film’s crackling chiaroscuro serves to make “Bait,” which in narrative terms is slight, feel in form and presentation part of the same ongoing conflict as that which cues its story.
A tale of Cornish fishermen whose traditional livelihoods...
But today, the tension that exists in Jenkin’s hand-processed, 16mm, black-and-white “Bait” is not between real and staged — indeed, the archly antiqued technique, from the warm, scratched fuzz of the film’s surface to the beautifully creaky and ever-so-slightly out-of-sync post-dubbing of dialogue and sound effects, consistently reminds us that we’re watching fiction. Instead, the film’s crackling chiaroscuro serves to make “Bait,” which in narrative terms is slight, feel in form and presentation part of the same ongoing conflict as that which cues its story.
A tale of Cornish fishermen whose traditional livelihoods...
- 2/28/2019
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
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