Rose of Nevada is one of the those films that I decided to see based purely on the trailer. Two guys arrive on a boat end up back in time and the film follows them as they are trying to cope with their situation. Given that there are some big hitters at the cinema out at the moment and given the trailer, I was surprised and took comfort from the fact that there was a decent number of people in the screening.
George Mackay plays Nick who at the start of the film uses a food bank and when he arrives home, his next door neighbour is standing outside in the pouring rain. In his own home, his wife and daughter are living in a house falling apart. He takes the job on the Rose of Nevada out of desperation. Callum Turner plays Liam who is sleeping at the docks seemingly having no home of his own. He seems to adjust to the change in their circumstances better than Nick. Even though they have nothing in common and have completely different priorities, both Turner and Mackay work well together. Cast wise, the film is pretty much faultless. There isnt a weak performance which everyone managing to walk that fine line of delivering a straight performance but with a hint of the realisation that something is slightly off.
The town that they are in seems to have seen better days. Normally I hate the allegory of modern society in films but I think that it works very well in this film because its too accurate to a lot of modern towns and cities. There is something clearly off about the town even when they go back to the 1990’s. I did enjoy the surroundings and it added to the mystery.
The idea that they have ended up 30 years in the past and everyone in the town thinks Nick and Liam are different people is a neat mystery. The two crewmen of the original Rose of Nevada died in tragic circumstances and it allows Nick and Liam to effectively leave their previous lives and take on new personas.
From a technical standpoint, this film looked amazing. It was a bit weird at first that the film must have only occupied 60% of the screen but once I got past that I was able to enjoy the way that the film looked. The grainy look and the light exposure gave the film a look that pretty much hasn’t existed for decades. Even in the 90’s this look was obsolete so choosing to have the film look as rustic and grungy as it does is an unusual thing. I can see some of today’s audience not liking the film purely because it's not filmed in HD.
Nick and Liam may be working together but they have different priorities. Nick wants to get back to his wife and daughter and Liam is happy in his relationship with Tina. As the film progresses, Nick grows increasingly desperate to return whereas Liam has become acclimatised to his new surroundings.
I will be honest that I didn’t fully understand the finer details of the film but the fact that I still enjoyed shows how good everything on screen was. I dont mind things being spoonfed but it would be nice to have something explained in a way that didn’t come across as exposition but this film doesnt do that and so you are left working things out for yourself. As I write this it has been four days since I saw the film and only know feel like I understand most of the film but I don't know if I will ever understand this film 100%. This was the first Mark Jenkin film that I have seen and on the basis of Rose of Nevada, I am intrigued to see what else he has come up with.
No comments:
Post a Comment