With enough studious exposure to appreciate the crafted aesthetics that dimensionally speaks traditional roots against class culture with expressive unpredictability, and a mentally-linked screenplay performatively unbalanced, this unique trip is a roughened gem worth gazing that signify hopeful revival in horizonal creativity. (B)

This is an objectively good movie in terms of style (which is retro and understated) and theme (the rich are perpetually problematic). The writing is eloquent, the acting tight. I didn't emotionally connect with it, overall, but it's probably just personal taste/cultural.

A film that makes some very odd choices https://uberscaryblog.blogspot.com/2023/08/continuing-my-trip-up-guardians-top-50.html

Arthouse films & I have had a turbulent relationship over the years. There's few things more annoying to me in cinema than an arthouse flick with nothing to say, but saying it in an obtuse, abstract way in order to appear profound and meaningful. Bait is a pretty interesting example of the phenomenon. More happens here than in some artsy films I've seen in the past. The conflict is clearly established, and we get to see it from both sides. It's a very common and pervasive theme being tackled, and its relatability gives it a solid footing in terms of narrative. What our lead Martin wants makes sense, and it's up to us to judge whether or not he's going about it the right way, and the grainy, cracked, black and white aesthetic serves to emphasis the bleak and insecure situation the lead finds himself in. I can very much understand most people not liking it as a movie experience. A story like this could easily be told with a straightforward approach, so the question I'm forced to ask is ‘What purpose does it serve to tell it in this manner? Would we have less sympathy for Martin if the movie was conventionally structured, if it was in colour, if the line delivery didn't feel so robotic and awkward, or if it didn't have random smash cuts, freezeframes and shots that are entirely silent? Maybe Mark Jenkin is just a man who likes to experiment and is endeavouring to find his own unique style that'll set him apart. Good luck to him, I say. He might not endear himself to many people, but at least his films will always stand out.

Cinema is first and foremost a visual medium. For all the brilliant screenplays, story lines, acting performances, scores, etc., cinema is an art form that first deals with the effect of the visual. Jenkin seems to realize this by the way he structured this film. We see events before they happen, that foreshadow, that show events that may happen based on the actions of the moment. This is an impressive work. 3.6 stars

Cool screen play and pictures.

This seemed like a good film at first - I can certainly say the theme is quite contemporary and its a situation many people would likely be able to relate to, the furstration of locals trying to do their jobs while seemingly getting in the way of what normally would be out of town types who buy up local property. However, I'm not sure there are any real conclusions to the story and the plot didn't feel strong enough to really stay with me as a film that's memorable. I could understand the choice to make it in black and white - it does give it a bit of a classic type feel to it perhaps but lack of colour aside, you can tell its a contemporary film otherwise. Its a shortish film and not one that I'm likely to think much about but I guess its ok. No more than that. I wouldn't especially recommend this film, no.

Not only would Bait have been my favourite film of 2019 if I'd seen it in time, I believe it's one of the best films I've ever seen, and I don't say that lightly. A fishing town in Cornwall is slowly giving way to the tourist trade, a situation that greatly upsets many of the locals in a village where everyone knows everyone, and the sense of unity in a tight community is very much felt in Mark Jenkin's utter masterpiece. Shot on grainy 16mm stock, Jenkin captures the uneasiness of the present situation in Cornwall, combined with the uncertainty of the future of local industry. Two brothers, Martin and Steven don't get on since their father died, mainly because Steven gave up on fishing and uses his boat to take out tourists to pay the bills. Forced to sell their family home to incomers who turn the street into holiday homes for tourists, Martin takes this especially hard. This is his story, but it's also a story of the community, and the state of the things, can a community retain its core values and still remain afloat without selling its soul. Funny and tragic, this is a modern masterpiece in every respect, and demands to be seen. Stunning.

Mark Jenkin's directorial debut I believe and it's something different. Martin is a fisherman in a little village in UK. He does not have a boat and the little money he earn is spent on the pub or helping out friends. There are other people in the village. The sellouts and the friends at the pub. And oh, the turists. The sellouts are changing they're ways to earn from the turists, and martins true friends tries to survive without paying much attention to them. Done in a 16:9-ish aspect, black and white and a flimmery filter. It's sat today but looks 80 years old. I dig the music and the jumpcuts. The story is OK, but at times a bit flat. It's something fresh that takes it's time to be fully enjoyed, but it's relatively easy to hang on to it all the way - even with it's mild surrealism. A fresh approach with some fingers thrown in someones faces trying to make a point. I'm not sure if I got that part completly right, though. 6.5 out of 10 lobster pots.

Pretentious bollocks.

Curious cinematic experiment, but plays more like an episode of Coronation Street than a meaningful piece of arthouse that it's promised to be.

A memorable and fascinating juxtaposition to have the film set in contemporary times exploring some modern themes when produced and presented to look as though it was made many, many decades ago. That's about all that remains memorable though in this highly experimental film whose plots and characters could only draw limited interest from me.

Shot in Academy ratio in grainy 16mm black-and-white, this Cornish domestic drama pits indigenous fishermen against wealthy out-of-towners, who are buying up the seafront fishermen's cottages and antagonising the locals. Mark Jenkins' BAFTA-winning film has echoes of Straw Dogs and Funny Games and a wonderful keening soundtrack, but is too pretentious to fully engage, and ultimately a bit meh.

Utterly rotten, from what I recall.

This is proper film making. The director apparently just wanted to get back to basics and so used a 1970s cine camera that didn't even have any sound. The dubbing is so good that I didn't even notice it after the first few minutes. It has this great old, foreign film feeling, like it's been stitched together from fragments found in a vault. Yet this is juxtaposed with the contemporary issue of rural locals being alienated by wealthy urban outsiders buying up property in their areas. The long list of credits at the end belies that it is not quite as low budget as it appears though.

Subject a failing media studies student to the very worst of Ken Loach, Ingmar Bergman and Luis Bunuel; school them in the production values of Acorn Antiques; furnish them with the flimsiest cameras and film stock available from same emporium; let them loose in a normally picturesque environment, with a random cast of actors and anti-actors; film their struggles as they improvise or plod through a script not fit for a silent movie; process the results via a 1960's local chemist; stand back and watch the critics drown in a grey sea of their own saliva; pray to God you never have to sit through a pretentious, turgid morass of stinking fish-guts like this, ever again.

Riveting, couldn't take my eyes off it. Feels very true to life to from my time as a tourist in Cornwall!

Stylish, poignant, shocking. Must see.

What I found amazing about "Bait", is how the low budget becomes a strength united with the unique style of the film. It deals with a big and real issue, in a simple and direct way. Brilliant work, refreshing.

A quirky seaside drama where very little happens but that's part of its charm. Originally brilliant.