No matter how trapped you feel in your circumstance, remember: Things could always get worse. That cruel realization haunts the cash-strapped protagonist of English filmmaker Mark Jenkin\u2019s transfixing, increasingly despairing \u201cRose of Nevada.\u201d This story of two strangers who take a job on a fishing boat \u2014 their lives are irrevocably altered once they return to shore \u2014 slowly pulls you inside its disquieting design. By the time you get your bearings, you\u2019re ensnared in its net.<\/p>\n
On the shore of a nondescript, decaying seaside town, a boat that went missing 30 years ago suddenly reappears. This modest trawler, the Rose of Nevada, no longer contains its doomed crew and yet here it is, without explanation and ready for new fishermen. Piloted by Murgey (Francis Magee), a stereotypically crusty captain, the boat welcomes Nick (George MacKay<\/a>), a devoted husband and father of a young daughter, and Liam (Callum Turner<\/a>), a sullen drifter. Nick and Liam have little in common except a desperate need for work. Spending a few days at sea, they bring in a huge haul, but it\u2019s apparent these two men will never be friends: Nick just wants to provide for his family while Liam is only thinking about his next pint.<\/p>\n When they get back to land, though, they discover they\u2019re bound together by a bizarre new reality. At first, the change is imperceptible but Nick notices that his sleepy village seems more vibrant, more populated with people. The cars are older models. And, most alarmingly, Nick\u2019s home doesn\u2019t belong to him \u2014 and his wife and daughter aren\u2019t there. His wizened next-door neighbors (Mary Woodvine and Adrian Rawlins) are younger, mistaking him for their son Luke, a former crew member of the Rose of Nevada who died by suicide. Grabbing a newspaper, Nick learns the horrible truth: Somehow, he has traveled back to 1993 and been placed in Luke\u2019s former life.<\/p>\n For Nick, this strange turn of events is devastating, but Liam is delighted after being embraced by local beauty Tina (Rosalind Eleazar), who believes he\u2019s her husband, Alan, who vanished along with the boat. Liam relishes his unearned good fortune while Nick futilely tries to explain to everyone that something is terribly wrong. The irony is brutal: For years, Nick was stuck in a town with limited economic prospects, but at least he had his beloved wife and little girl. Now he has nothing.<\/p>\n Those unfamiliar with Jenkin\u2019s work may come away from \u201cRose of Nevada\u201d as disoriented as Nick. Starting with his 2019 breakthrough \u201cBait,\u201d he fashions handmade movies that eschew modern filmmaking techniques. Shooting on 16mm with a Bolex camera and insisting on his actors delivering their lines through ADR once filming is completed \u2014 a strategy that leaves the characters feeling unmoored from their surroundings as well as themselves \u2014 Jenkin not only directs but also writes, shoots, edits, composes and handles the sound design.<\/p>\n