Mark Jenkin’s 2019 debut Bait was a drama about the effects of tourism on a Cornish fishing village, but its intense, gritty style drew many comparisons to horror. Jenkin has more deliberately leaned into the genre for his follow-up feature; Enys Men – the title means ‘Stone Island’ – is a Cornish folk horror.
In 1973, a woman (Mary Woodvine) lives alone on a remote island. Daily, she measures the soil temperature under a particular patch of flowers; her repeated notation of “no change” may refer to the state of the flowers but also sums up the way her routine is presented across the first half of the movie.
However, not all is as it seems. From a radio report indicating that 1973 is long past to a boat sunk in the nineteenth century reappearing in contemporary form, the timeline of events surrounding this island doesn’t add up. But the woman seems oblivious to this, until the appearance of mysterious lichen, growing not just on the flowers but on her own body, finally stirs her to record a change.
The film doesn’t give answers, but relishes in the ambiguity. Is she lost in her isolated mind, or haunted by the island’s ghosts? Or perhaps she’s one of them, captured in the crackly celluloid of Jenkin’s 16mm film? The footage appears patched together from unearthed ‘70s film, and the experimental style – many close-ups, jarring editing, minimal dialogue – creates an at-times overwhelming sense of eeriness.
But whereas Bait used this style to complement an impactful and relevant narrative, with Enys Men, the end result feels a little like the character – lost and in need of purpose.
Enys Men is released in UK cinemas on January 13th 2023.
