ALTERED STATE
WITH HIS 2019 BREAKTHROUGH BAIT, CORNWALL’S MARK JENKIN EMERGED AS ONE OF THE MOST UNIQUE — AND UNORTHODOX — VOICES IN BRITISH FILM. AS EERIE FOLLOW-UP ENYS MEN ARRIVES, HE EXPLAINS WHY HE’S IN A WORLD OF HIS OWN
WORDS IAN FREER
IF YOU WANT AN IMAGE TO SUM UP FILMMAKER MARK JENKIN, TRY THIS ON FOR SIZE.
Shooting his break-out Cornish-fishermen-versus-out-of-towners film Bait, he needed a shot of a crowbar falling to the floor. Jenkin captured the key moment in his tiny backyard, pressing his eye to the viewfinder, holding a Paglight [a small light] between his teeth and dropping the crowbar himself — all while his partner and constant collaborator Mary Woodvine was making dinner — or “tea”, in Jenkin’s jargon — in the kitchen just two feet away.
“I just love filmmaking,” he enthuses about his DIY approach. “I love all of it. I’m like a kid who picks up a camera for the first time, like I did when I was 17 years old. I’ve got that joy now that I had then, and that’s linked to doing as much of it as I can. Because I just love all the [filmmaking] roles.”
Jenkin is the Jason Bourne of lo-fi British moviemaking, a 46- year-old one-man-army who writes, directs, shoots (on a clockwork 16mm Bolex camera), edits, sound-designs and scores his work from his production base (read: house) in Cornwall. His work has no truck with regular moviemaking practices. His scripts contain no camera directions or emotional clues for actors, reading more like Rilke poetry than Aaron Sorkin. He doesn’t record any sound on location, adding all the dialogue, FX and atmospheres in post. And, if that’s not enough, he traditionally processes the black-and-white negative of his films himself. The only thing he doesn’t do is on-set food — that’s Kerra’s Catering from Helston.
“It’s sort of egomania, really,” he says about his multi-tasking. “I’ve worked on shoots where I haven’t had all that responsibility. It hasn’t been as fraught, but the films I’ve done haven’t been as good, in my opinion. I think I need to always be ten seconds away from the whole thing falling to pieces. I love that.”
After the “relatively huge” (Jenkin’s phrase) success of Bait — over half a million quid at the UK box office, an Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer BAFTA, Mark Kermode’s Film Of The Decade — offers came rolling in. Jenkin had a decision to make: go big or stay home. After discussion with Woodvine, his agent Matthew Bates and producer Denzil Monk, the choice was clear.