Trapped on a time-travelling ghost ship | Rose of Nevada (REVIEW) | Projector Shorts

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]George MacKay and Callum Turner become trapped in a time warp when they set sail on the Rose of Nevada. In a fishing village in Cornwall, the titular vessel has mysteriously returned after the ship and its crew disappeared at sea three decades earlier. MacKay and Turner play two men who both decide to crew the ship for some much-needed cash, but when they return from fishing, they realize they've been taken back in time to the '90s and have taken the identities of the lost crew. This is the latest from Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin, who if you're not familiar with he shoots his films on a clockwork 16mm Bolex film camera and all the sound is recorded in post. So, that gives his movies a very distinctive analog quality. There's a texture to it that fits the rugged sea and landscapes, but also a kind of woozy, dreamlike quality because it feels strangely detached and artificial.

[00:00:50]a strong throwback feel as well, very fitting for a movie displaced out of time. It's gorgeous-looking with eye-popping colors, although some of the scenes on the water are so shaky, you might get authentically seasick. Rose of Nevada is Jenkin's third film and it forms a sort of spiritual trilogy with its predecessors Bait and Enys Men. I saw that latter a few years back and it wasn't really for me. I found it to be largely incomprehensible. This is a lot more digestible and with the presence of some name actors, it's a more mainstream film. It's clearly his biggest production yet, especially in an ambitious storm sequence where Francis Magee's skipper is swept overboard and they have to rescue him. It is still, however, uniquely Jenkin's film and his identity as a filmmaker remains intact, so this won't be for everybody. Edward Rowe and Mary Woodvine, regulars of Jenkin's previous films, also pop up in the supporting cast. In a way, it splits the difference between Jenkin's earlier works. You've got the social commentary on the decline of fishing towns and how the tip-off that they've gone back to the past is to see it alive and thriving again. But, there is a touch of folk horror in that the past and nostalgia is a trap and a sense of inevitable doom pervades over the second half. Both men are initially bewildered by the change but turn has seemed to adapt to his new life better becoming a family man, which is queasily uncomfortable as he's now the father of the woman that he was flirting with in the present. That contrast sharply with Mackay who is desperate to get back to his wife and kid and resistant to accept his new identity, which only causes him more pain. It is a very unusual film that prioritizes mood and atmosphere over narrative, but it is a haunting ghost ship story that further proves that Jenkin is one of the most unique British directors working today.