Bait (2019)

[zomgmouse]

British film that premiered in Berlin earlier this year and currently seems to be doing the rounds (I saw it in Melbourne). Set in a Cornish fishing village and dealing with encroaching gentrification. It's filmed on a grainy b&w hand-cranked camera with deliberate defects and the audio was all post-dubbed, so it creates a very intense mood that is nevertheless quite down to earth and at times very funny.

Would definitely appeal to a lot of CaBbers I'd say. Has anyone seen it?

[BlodwynPig]

Do you get all the good films first over there?

[holyzombiejesus]

I saw a trailer for this and thought it looked awful. Was worried it was the new one by the The VVitch bloke at first and was relieved it wasn't.

[zomgmouse]

Do you get all the good films first over there?

Only at festivals I imagine. Otherwise we have to wait like Soviets in a gruel queue.

I saw a trailer for this and thought it looked awful. Was worried it was the new one by the The VVitch bloke at first and was relieved it wasn't.

Don't watch trailers!!!!!!

[non capisco]

Would definitely appeal to a lot of CaBbers I'd say. Has anyone seen it?

Saw it yesterday and really liked it. One scene was a terrific series of glowering facial closeups like something out of a Russian silent film, but in a Cornish pub. There are some great faces in this film, especially your main angry fisherman guy. I loved the post-dubbed audio technique. Although done out of necessity with the cameras they were using it certainly conjures an uniquely strange atmosphere that, as zomgmouse says, tips over into the right side of absurd at times.

[garbed_attic]

Any of you at this folk horror conference in Cornwall? The director's here though he doesn't like the term folk horror

[mjwilson]

Some twat in the cinema had his phone saying "GPS signal lost" in the middle of this. And he was chatty, the bastard.

[sevendaughters]

I saw this on Monday and it is easily EASILY the film of the year for me. Just very well done. There are some bits of formal experimentation that aren't being talked about because of the headline grabbing of B&W film shot on film about Cornwall and gentrification. Like there's a bit where two conversations are happening simultaneously and he just cuts it all together like it's one conversation going on at once. Really playful and much funnier than the hype would have it as.

[grassbath]

Took a punt on this because the BFI Player are leading with it in their ads. Glad I did - so original and arresting. A real perfect form and content match. Funny at points, but overall I found the graininess, minimal soundtrack and use of close-ups gave it a tense, disturbing, near-Meshes Of the Afternoon vibe. That, combined with the dramatic discomfort of the class warfare, had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

[magval]

'prancing lycra cunt' got the biggest laugh I've heard in a cinema in years. Great movie.

[sevendaughters]

rewatched this on BFI Player last night though I really wanted to see it again in the cinema. no matter. it was even better second time. calling it my film of the 00s.

[Puce Moment]

Love the technical ingenuity, and it looks amazing, but I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed. It feels churlish to criticise his hard work when Hollywood is pumping out shite on a weekly basis, but I never really clicked with this film. I found the script and some of the acting really poor. It may have been on purpose, and certainly the mono dubbed dialogue does have an uncanny feel. A rewatch might change my mind, but I saw this at my favourite cinema, with a good, quiet audience. Perfect conditions.

[Doomy Dwyer]

Love the technical ingenuity, and it looks amazing, but I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed. It feels churlish to criticise his hard work when Hollywood is pumping out shite on a weekly basis, but I never really clicked with this film. I found the script and some of the acting really poor. It may have been on purpose, and certainly the mono dubbed dialogue does have an uncanny feel. A rewatch might change my mind, but I saw this at my favourite cinema, with a good, quiet audience. Perfect conditions.

I agree with every word PM has written there.

I was in a cafe in Cornwall (Penzance) a couple of weeks ago and it was lovely. I had a bacon and egg panini and a pot of Assam tea which were most agreeable but left me with a feeling of curious disquiet. Then I had a slice of chocolate cake with shaved orange peel on the top which was excellent, I have to say. But throughout the dessert my feeling of disquiet intensified into a kind of furious boiling rage that threatened to tip into violence. I thought it best to leave so went up to the counter to settle the owing and it was then that the penny dropped (not literally - I paid by card). The waiter/bloke behind the jump was Hugo the posh twat boy from Bait. So, either he's a better actor than I reckoned or he's got an extremely punchable face. It's the latter.

[sevendaughters]

i don't think you can really judge the acting on the same merits as a traditional drama; it's clearly there to create a particular effect (subservient to the technique).

thought the script was fine.

[Blinder Data]

I thought the script pitched it perfectly. The technical quality lent the film an air of pastiche but without losing any of the emotional punch. If the script was more realistic or stylised, I think it would have tipped the film closer to arty wank.

[SteK]

Urgh, is it 4:3?

Looks interesting though.....

[SteK]

Urgh, is it 4:3?

Looks interesting though.....

Just started watching it, I love it already!

[Shit Good Nose]

I saw a trailer for this and thought it looked awful. Was worried it was the new one by the The VVitch bloke at first and was relieved it wasn't.

You're thinking of The Lighthouse, which is fucking amazing.  Admittedly I REALLY like The VVitch as well (unlike most people, I was relieved that it wasn't at all anything like its trailer, which made it out to be a typical jump-scare horror), but The Lighthouse is different level film making in comparison.

R-Patz is particularly genuinely brilliant in it.


Alas I've not seen Bait yet, so can't comment on it.

[Rev+]

The technical quality lent the film an air of pastiche but without losing any of the emotional punch.

It put the entire thing under glass for me, as I was aware of it the whole time.  It made the whole thing an oddly emotionless experience.  It's a technique that would definitely work for *a* story, but this one maybe wasn't the best fit.

As a film it's alright for the 90 minutes you spend watching it, but the plot's barely there and the characters are paper thin.  I know about as much about the lead character as I did before I watched it.

[Head Gardener]

it's leaked this morning

[RicoMNKN]

Just watched this on the BFI Player.  Thought the technique worked well. I assumed the idea was in some part to make the modern elements a bit jarring when viewed in an old filming style, and thus focus on the gentrification.

Glad grassbath mentioned Meshes Of The Afternoon. I also thought about this film at one point. Not just in look, but also the way it played with time.