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Enys Men

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Enys Men
A Cornish-language film poster for Enys Men
UK theatrical release poster in Cornish, thought to be the first use of the language in a poster for a distributed feature film
Directed byMark Jenkin
Written byMark Jenkin
Produced byDenzil Monk
Starring
CinematographyMark Jenkin
Edited byMark Jenkin
Music byMark Jenkin
Production
companies
  • Film4
  • Sound/Image Cinema Lab
  • Bosena
Distributed byBritish Film Institute
Release dates
  • 20 May 2022(2022-05-20)(Cannes)
  • 13 January 2023(2023-01-13)(United Kingdom)
Running time
91 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$549,783[2]

Enys Men(Cornishfor 'Stone Island') is a 2022 Britishexperimentalpsychologicalfolk horrorfilm shot, composed, written and directed byMark Jenkin.Shot on16 mm film,it starsMary Woodvine,Edward Rowe,Flo Crowe andJohn Woodvine.

The film was shot during theCOVID-19 lockdown,and the crew prioritised creating a smallcarbon footprintduring production.Enys Menpremiered in theDirectors' Fortnightsection of the2022 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

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Set in 1973 on an uninhabited island off theCornishcoast, a wildlife volunteer's daily observations of a rare flower turn into a metaphysical journey that forces her as well as the viewer to question what is real and what is nightmare.[3]

The only feature that suggests a continuous flow of time (though highly sped up), is the appearance of afruticose lichengrowing on the flowers over three days, and simultaneously on the protagonist's body.[4]She has a nebulous relationship with a sinisterstanding stone,a teenage girl who may be her daughter or younger self, a mysterious preacher who may be her father, a collection of ghostly miners who haunt the island's tunnels, and her sole human contact, a fisherman with whom she may have once been in love.

Cast

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  • Mary Woodvineas The Volunteer
  • Edward Roweas The Boatman
  • Flo Crowe as The Girl
  • John Woodvineas The Preacher
  • Joe Gray as The Miner
  • Loveday Twomlow as The Baby
  • Callum Mitchell as Sound Engineer

Production

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The film was shot in 21 days during theCOVID-19 lockdown,which necessitated a smaller crew than was planned. The crew set out for production to have a lowcarbon footprint,producing only 4.55 tonnes of CO2(compared with around 3000 tonnes for a typical film) which wasoffset.[5]

Release

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Enys Menpremiered in theDirectors' Fortnightsection of the2022 Cannes Film Festival.[1][4][6][7][8]InBodmin,the film's opening night sold out within hours, and the film was a box office success for cinemas across Cornwall.[5]

Neonhas purchased the North American distribution rights.

Promotion

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The film was promoted bilingually, with posters being produced in both English andCornish.[9][10]It was thought to be the first instance of a distributed feature film having Cornish posters.[9]

Critical reception

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On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes,80% of 94 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "If its story's mysteries are ultimately less compelling than they might seem,Enys Men's retro aesthetic and intriguingly abstract visuals make this a chilly treat for horror fans. "[3]OnMetacritic,the film has aweighted average scoreof 78 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11]

Mark Kermode,reviewing forThe Guardian,gave the film five stars calling it "a richly authentic portrait of Cornwall" and saying Woodvine's performance was "quietly mesmerising".[12]Adam Scovell, writing forBBC Culture,said that the film was "a perfect, anti-romantic expression of Cornish eeriness".[13]

In an article forFar Out,Calum Russell wrote thatEnys Menfeels "like the spiritual continuation ofBait",Jenkin's previous film, and" more like an innovative art installation than a piece of narrative fiction ".[14]

Accolades

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Year Association Category Nominee Result Ref.
2022 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight Mark Jenkin Nominated [15]
Athens International Film Festival Best Picture Nominated [16]
BFI London Film Festival Best Film 66th place [17]
Sitges Film Festival Best Motion Picture Nominated [18]
2023 British Independent Film Awards Best Sound Won [19]
The Guardian's Best Films The Best Film (June) Won [20]
IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival Best Feature Film Nominated

Home media

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Enys Menwas released on dual format Blu-ray and DVD on 8 May 2023 viaBFIdistribution.[21]

References

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  1. ^abKiang, Jessica (27 May 2022)."'Enys Men' Review: A Gorgeously Grainy Folk Horror Steeped in Style but Starved of Story ".Variety.
  2. ^"Enys Men".Box Office Mojo.Retrieved25 May2023.
  3. ^ab"Enys Men".Rotten Tomatoes.
  4. ^abBradshaw, Peter(20 May 2022)."Enys Men review – a supremely disquieting study of solitude".The Guardian.
  5. ^abMorris, Steven (6 January 2023)."'Interest is off the scale': Cornish cinema fans snub Avatar for local folk horror ".The Guardian.Retrieved10 January2023.
  6. ^Ritman, Alex (24 May 2022)."Cannes Hidden Gem: Unsettling Rocks and Cornish Creeps in Mark Jenkin's 'Enys Men'".The Hollywood Reporter.
  7. ^Wise, Damon (20 May 2022)."Cannes Review: Mark Jenkin's 'Enys Men'".Deadline Hollywood.
  8. ^Latif, Leila (20 May 2022)."'Enys Men' Review: An Artfully Constructed Folk Horror Film About Never-Ending Grief ".IndieWire.
  9. ^ab"Enys Men: Film poster a Cornish language breakthrough".BBC News.6 December 2022.Retrieved15 January2023.
  10. ^Trewhela, Lee (1 December 2022)."Enys Men: Cornwall director Mark 'Bait' Jenkin's new film gets early screenings in the South West".Cornwall Live.Retrieved15 January2023.
  11. ^"Enys Men Reviews".Metacritic.Retrieved5 March2023.
  12. ^Kermode, Mark(15 January 2023)."Enys Men review – Mark Jenkin's Cornish psychodrama will sweep you away".The Guardian.Retrieved15 January2023.
  13. ^Scovell, Adam (12 January 2023)."Enys Men: The films that frighten us in unexplainable ways".BBC Culture.Retrieved15 January2023.
  14. ^Russell, Calum (11 January 2023)."'Enys Men' Review: Mark Jenkin's meditative homegrown experience ".Far Out.Retrieved15 January2023.
  15. ^Lemercier, Fabien (27 April 2022)."Scents of Europe and discoveries at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight".cineuropa.org.Retrieved8 October2023.
  16. ^"Archive: 28th AIFF 2022: International Competition".en.aiff.gr.Retrieved8 October2023.
  17. ^"Enys Men, the new feature from visionary Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin, to be released by the BFI on 13 January 2023".bfi.co.uk.Retrieved8 October2023.
  18. ^"Sitges' Universe Expands With New Titles From the Most Contemporary, Audacious Fantastic Genre".sitgesfilmfestival.28 July 2022.Retrieved8 October2023.
  19. ^Dalton, Ben (20 October 2023)."Bifa Raindance Maverick award longlist includes 'Enys Men', 'Name Me Lawand'".screendaily.Retrieved23 October2023.
  20. ^"The best films of 2023 so far".The Guardian.8 June 2023.Retrieved8 October2023.
  21. ^"Enys Men".hmv.Retrieved12 October2023.
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