Rent Bait (2019)

Brill - Bait review by jb

‘They’ve got a porthole!’

 Stephen and Martin Ward, two siblings of Cornish fisherman stock have sold their coastal village property to middle-class city-dwellers the Leighs. But younger brother Martin Ward cannot abide these prosecco-swilling, manchego-munching intruders, the changes they represent, and the way they have turned the house into a twee parody of Cornish life.

 Shot in black-and-white on clockwork cameras, with sound and dialogue dubbed in post-production, and editing from the Nic Roeg ‘Er, What Year Is It Now?’ school, Marc Jenkin's 'Bait' is singular and compelling, full of technical bravura, only let down by the caricatured nature of its characters. The film is an eerie hybrid of Humphrey Jennings-style documentary and jolting affect, conveying a picture of a traditional world that no longer makes sense to its inhabitants. Times are changing: Stephen Ward now uses the family fishing boat to take lairy tourists on thirty-minute booze cruises. Cultures are clashing, and not only over interior design: the romance that the Leighs’ diffident daughter Katie is having with Stephen Ward’s son Neil disgusts Katie’s brother Hugo. Meanwhile Martin, still clinging to the buoy of the past, nets pathetically small hauls from the local beach.

 Violence fills the air like the smell of rotting mackerel. The issues raised are current and vital. But the characterisation can be blunt and lazy. The Wards, grizzled, gruff, monosyllabic, are more than a tad sitcom-ish. The Leighs, with their Apple macs, 4x4, lycra, and cave-aged cheeses are too obviously set up as figures of ridicule. A more subtle film might have made them an implicit presence and simply concentrated on the locals and the struggle to deal with economic forces that bring both good and ill (witness the continuing battle in St Ives to find a solution to the issue of second homes). It’s not the era-defining masterpiece that some reviewers would have you believe, but Bait still hooks you. 

One of the worst Films i have ever seen - Bait review by MS

I wont go into the Dynamics of the Film as others have done this but for me this film is terrible. I was waiting for the grainy Black and White picture to at some point change to colour and be of a normal quality. But to be honest after 35 minutes i gave up and fast forwarded to the end. It had the potential of a decent story line but the quality of the picture spoilt it. Easily one of the worst films i have seen.

Worst film ever award - Bait review by sf

If you are a normal person who watches normal films, avoid. I lasted 20 mins, but it tries (and succeeds) to be one of those pointless, poorly shot and acted films of the 60s, before film making was regarded as a skill. Lingering shots of inane objects, close-ups of faces who then mumble solitary dialogue, by actors who clearly cannot act, with no real story to be told. If you think that salt-and-shake crisps are still the pinnacle of culinary technology, then go ahead. But film making has moved on since.

Stick with it - not just for film buffs - Bait review by CP Customer

Won't be for everyone - but if you can get past the first 15 mins coping with the odd filming style and potential pomposity - you are rewarded with a hugely impressive morality tale, filled with pathos, dry humour against the canvas of a Cornish coastal town adapting to 21st century life.

I'm not a full-on Kermode movie buff - but glad I listened to his recommendations and got to see Bait.

Looks like media student film - Bait review by CP Customer

For me didn’t enjoy this. Lots of lingering shots, scratchy black and white footage for style but story too slow and not gripping. I thought acting was ok but otherwise one to miss

Art or entertainment? - Bait review by PM

A bit too odd for me. Very much a film noir: long drawnout moody silences with people smoking. Cinematography makes use of the stunning cornish landscape. Fair commentry on the alienation of traditional culture in a rapidly evolving money driven world. Could have been more dramatic..... I felt the more could have happened to the antagonists like being clubbed to death with a lead filled diving boot , oh well thats an hour and half I'll never get back.

unable to finish - Bait review by Ernie

The film is made in black and white which by itself can add to a film if the story grabs you. However this film is not only in black and white its had a fake grain, scratches and flickering and bleaching added to make it look old and filmed on an old 8mm hand camera. I found it so distracting that after 30 mins of trying to figure out who the players were I gave up and switched to another film.