Rose of Nevada (2025)

Ghost Ships, Time Slips - Rose of Nevada review by griggs

I went in wary after bouncing hard off Enys Men, but Rose of Nevada turned out to be much more my speed. It’s still unmistakably Mark Jenkin – scratchy 16mm textures, post-synced voices, slightly off-kilter cutting – but this time that style is wrapped around an actual ghost-ship yarn with a clearer spine.

A trawler lost 30 years ago drifts back into a battered Cornish harbour, and two men sign on hoping for a fresh start. From there it slides, almost casually, into time-slip territory. Past and present bleed into each other as the Rose creaks in the swell, radios crackle and the gulls sound just a bit wrong. Jenkin’s Cornwall feels properly lived-in: the weary pub, the half-forgotten quay, the sense of a place left behind.

George MacKay, as ever, is rock solid, wearing the film’s strangeness like it’s the most natural thing in the world, with Callum Turner a nice, needling foil. It still won’t convert everyone to Jenkin’s wavelength, and a stretch or two is a touch baggy, but once it locks in, it’s oddly, eerily captivating.

Putting Cornwall filmmakers on the world stage - Rose of Nevada review by AER

Director Mark Jenkin has a unique approach to filmmaking - implementing old tech hardware and dubbing the sounds on later, his movies are certainly an acquired taste. Rose of Nevada is his third feature and you should know what to expect - stilted acting and a liberal respect of linear coherent narrative. If you don't mind the mysterious nature of its storyline and are happy to piece it all together afterwards, The Rose of Nevada really is something special. It's a timemachine/ghost story that falls somewhere between Jenkin's relatable BAIT and his elusive arty ENYS MEN. At a glance, the plot may look like a Cornish Event Horizon but it's so much more... :)