CINECITY 2022: Enys Men

Dir: Mark Jenkin. With: Mary Woodvine, Edward Rowe, Flo Crowe. UK 2022. 91 mins.

This highly anticipated follow-up to Mark Jenkin’s BAFTA winner Bait is a mind-bending folk horror story set on a remote Cornish island. A volunteer ecologist lives alone on the island, conducting a painstaking study of rare wildflowers growing there. At first she seems untroubled by solitude. Each day she records her observations, drinks tea, reads and listens to the radio. But after observing a change in the flowers, her stability starts to fracture. A mysterious rash appears on her body, and she experiences disturbing moments that might be echoes from the past or foreshadowing the future. While drawing on the influences of Cornish folklore and cult British horror, Enys Men has all the hallmarks of Jenkin’s experimental style. The film is shot in 16mm colour (evoking the 1970s era in which the story is set), with juddering, ambient post-synched sound and minimal dialogue. The result? A distinctive, eerie and unsettling cinematic experience. “Jenkin’s style is so unusual, so unadorned, it feels almost like a manuscript culture of cinema. There is real artistry in it.” PETER BRADSHAW The Guardian