Spoilers ahoy – so not that ambiguous – but you may want to come back after you’ve watched it… (My review is here.) As a title, Bait works in several ways: fishing bait, as a metaphor to entice, and bait meaning to provoke. Martin the fisherman deliberately goads the incomers, while they as a group… Bait: ambiguous and ambivalent Read More
Bait 4.5 stars
Martin is a fisherman without a boat, his brother Steven having re-purposed it as a tourist tripper. With their childhood home now a get-away for London money, Martin is displaced to the estate above the harbour. Despite its tough subject matter, there’s a magic saturating writer-director Mark Jenkin’s film, shot on a vintage 16mm camera… Bait Read More
The “Bait” trailer is here, and I will be carping on about it all summer
Okay that’s the only fish pun as I used them up in my review of Fisherman’s Friends. I saw Bait last week and I can confirm it is just as extraordinary (in a good way) as the quotes on the trailer say it is. There’s a magic to writer-director Mark Jenkin’s stunning film, combined with grittiness,… The “Bait” trailer is here, and I will be carping on about it all summer Read More
Fisherman’s Friends 2.5 stars
“Emotions have no place in business” says hotshot London music executive Danny (Daniel Mays) and there’s your Britflick red flag right there. Fisherman’s Friends ticks so many boxes it makes me wonder if there’s a secret list of British film industry definites and nice-to-haves, with any funding dependent on a 75% hit rate. Based on… Fisherman’s Friends Read More