Mark Jenkin's latest film is being released May 1, 2023.
- On-stage Q&A interview with Mark Jenkin and Mary Woodvine by film critic Mark Kermode at BFI Southbank (2022)
- Film Sounds: A conversation between Mark Jenkin and Peter Strickland (2022): the director of Enys Men in conversation with filmmaker Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, Flux Gourmet) as they discuss the subtleties of sound in film
- Haunters of the Deep (1984, 61 mins): a Children’s Film Foundation adventure that shares many of the same West Cornwall locations as Enys Men, and made quite an impression on its director
- Theatrical trailer
- More extras to be confirmed
- **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film by William Fowler and Jason Wood among others
- All extras are TBC and subject to change
Enys Men
Moderator: MichaelB
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DarkImbecile
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Re: Enys Men
If Lisandro Alonso decided to make a Lynchian nightmare in the style of Nicolas Roeg and classic British folk horror, it might look something like Mark Jenkin’s terrific Enys Men.
Mary Woodvine plays a wildlife volunteer on an isolated Cornish island in the early 1970s (the year of The Wicker Man and Don’t Look Now, to be precise), diligently following the schedule required to monitor and record the condition of a particular patch of flowers when the island’s past begins to intrude on the present and her sense of reality begins to fracture. Jenkin very steadily and patiently tilts this small, idyllic world off its axis until we become fully unmoored in time and space.
Jenkin not only writes and directs but also handles the distressed 16mm cinematography, an eerie score, and the very good film and stellar sound editing — this last element is maybe the most important to the most distressing moments, reminiscent of Peter Strickland’s commitment to a kind of precise aural cacophony. A more subtle element that leads to many images feeling slightly off is Jenkin’s excellent use of depth of focus to make the same space feel compressed or enormous at key points; I found the regularly interspersed footage of birds, waves, and lichen just as transfixing as the more dynamic or phantasmagoric images.
If the film is ultimately maybe a little too referential and reliant on its precursors for its own good, it’s also well-executed enough that I’m excited to see if Jenkin can build on the relative success and critical/festival admiration going forward. I see responses to his previous feature Bait here were a little more mixed, but I’ll check that out as well; it sounds like there are some similar formal elements that at the least mean it should look great.
Mary Woodvine plays a wildlife volunteer on an isolated Cornish island in the early 1970s (the year of The Wicker Man and Don’t Look Now, to be precise), diligently following the schedule required to monitor and record the condition of a particular patch of flowers when the island’s past begins to intrude on the present and her sense of reality begins to fracture. Jenkin very steadily and patiently tilts this small, idyllic world off its axis until we become fully unmoored in time and space.
Jenkin not only writes and directs but also handles the distressed 16mm cinematography, an eerie score, and the very good film and stellar sound editing — this last element is maybe the most important to the most distressing moments, reminiscent of Peter Strickland’s commitment to a kind of precise aural cacophony. A more subtle element that leads to many images feeling slightly off is Jenkin’s excellent use of depth of focus to make the same space feel compressed or enormous at key points; I found the regularly interspersed footage of birds, waves, and lichen just as transfixing as the more dynamic or phantasmagoric images.
If the film is ultimately maybe a little too referential and reliant on its precursors for its own good, it’s also well-executed enough that I’m excited to see if Jenkin can build on the relative success and critical/festival admiration going forward. I see responses to his previous feature Bait here were a little more mixed, but I’ll check that out as well; it sounds like there are some similar formal elements that at the least mean it should look great.
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MichaelB
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Re: Enys Men
Full specs announced:
ENYS MEN
A film by Mark Jenkin
Mary Woodvine, Edward Rowe, Flo Crowe
BFI Blu-ray/DVD and BFI Player Subscription Exclusive release on 8 May 2023
Celebrated on May Day with a screening accompanied by live score at BFI Southbank
See the trailer here
This critically acclaimed mind-bending folk horror, set in 1973, unfolds atmospherically on an unpopulated island off the Cornish coast. There, a single volunteer (Mary Woodvine) recording data on an unfamiliar flower finds her lonely daily observations turning troublingly towards the strange and metaphysical, forcing her to question what is real and what is nightmare. Is the barren landscape not just alive... but also sentient?
Shot by visionary filmmaker Mark Jenkin – the BAFTA award-winning director of BAIT – on grainy 16mm colour film and employing his trademark post-synched sound, ENYS MEN (pronounced ‘Mayne’) is technically innovative yet eerily evocative of the period it inhabits. Filmed on location around the disused tin mines of West Penwith, it is also an enigmatic ode to Cornwall’s rich traditions of folklore and the region’s rugged natural beauty.
ENYS MEN was released in UK cinemas by BFI Distribution on 13 January 2023 and recently opened in the USA via Neon. The BFI’s Dual Format Edition Blu-ray/DVD and the simultaneous exclusive streaming release on BFI Player, are both available from 8 May 2023. To celebrate, BFI Southbank is presenting the film with a live score that sonically reimagines its source material on May Day, Monday 1 May at 18:40. The score will be performed by writer/director Mark Jenkin and Dion Star, known under the banner of their collaborative music project ‘The Cornish Sound Unit’, who employ improvised and composed pieces using tape machines, analogue synths, feedback and field recordings.
Special features on the Dual Format Edition include an audio commentary by Mark Jenkin and Mark Kermode, recently filmed interviews, two complementary archival films and more.
Special features
• Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
• Audio commentary by director Mark Jenkin and film critic Mark Kermode (2023)
• Mark Jenkin and Mary Woodvine in conversation with Mark Kermode (2022, 29 mins): the film’s director and its star discuss the making of Enys Men in an onstage Q&A filmed at BFI Southbank
• Film Sounds (2023, 86 mins): Mark Jenkin and filmmaker Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, Flux Gourmet) discuss the subtleties of sound in film
• Haunters of the Deep (1984, 61 mins): a Children’s Film Foundation adventure that shares many West Cornwall locations with Enys Men, and made quite an impression on Mark Jenkin
• Recording the Score (2022, 6 mins): Mark Jenkin at work on the film’s distinctive soundtrack
• Mark Jenkin’s audio diaries (2022, 90 mins): the director charts his filmmaking process
• The Duchy of Cornwall (1938, 15 mins): the strange beauty of Cornwall resonates through this iconic film from the vaults of the BFI National Archive
• Image gallery
• Newly created audio description track
• Theatrical trailer
• ***First pressing only*** illustrated booklet with a Director’s Statement; essays by Tara Judah, Rob Young, William Fowler and Jason Wood; credits and notes on the special features
Product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1483 / 15
UK / 2022 / colour / 90 mins / English language with optional subtitles for the Deaf and partial hearing, plus optional audio description / original aspect ratio 1.45:1 // BD50: 1080p, 24fps, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo audio / DVD9: PAL, 25fps, Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio