Bait (review) – a salty, seaweed-coated photographic study of community change

Mark Jenkin’s hand-processed and aged 16mm Bait feels like a long-lost film that has suddenly been rediscovered under someone’s floorboards. Here, the celluloid is a character in itself as he explores tradition vs. tourism and unpicks the challenges facing our coastal communities. Bait is playing in cinemas now.

Mark Jenkin’s Cornish fishing tale is a masterclass in traditional filmmaking, offering a hypnotic and salty soap opera that joyously defies genre boundaries. Jenkin’s grainy 16mm black-and-white film captures the intensity, loneliness and challenge of a changing Cornish coast as old and new collide with explosive results.

Martin Ward (Edward Rowe) is a fisherman who scrapes a living together within his rapidly changing coastal community; the ports and bays where he once caught and sold fish are now a playground for tourists, holidaymakers and those who can afford a summer home. As Martin attempts to keep his community alive, the industry and career he loves slowly slip through his fingers, forcing his brother (Giles King) to use the family fishing boat as a tourist ferry. At the same time, many of Martin’s fishing friends have replaced the waves with taxis to make ends meet.

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Martin’s childhood cottage has recently been sold to a family from London, who intend to use it as a holiday home. As a result, Martin makes the London family’s life as difficult as possible, with the new owners, Sandra and Tim Leigh (Mary Woodvine and Simon Shepherd) and their children (Georgia Ellery and Jowan Jacobs), unaware of the hurt their presence causes. However, Martin has a glimmer of hope when his teenage nephew Neil (Isaac Woodvine) is interested in embracing the fishing traditions he holds dear. However, as events spiral out of control throughout one summer, a simmering conflict between tradition, community, and tourism will lead to a devastating final act.

Mark Jenkin’s hand-processed and aged 16mm Bait feels like a long-lost film that has suddenly been rediscovered under someone’s floorboards. Here, the celluloid is a character in itself as he explores tradition vs. tourism and unpicks the challenges facing our coastal communities. The result is a movie that seduces its audience with a beautiful, salty, seaweed-coated photographic study of community change.