Parents' Guide to Enys Men

An uneasy watch for more than one reason, this British folk horror film is the follow-up to writer and director Mark Jenkin's acclaimed Bait, which tackled thorny social issues. In Enys Men, events revolve around a more personal, internalized conflict. In the distant wilderness of a tiny British island, hemmed in by its dark, jagged rocks, Woodvine's unnamed curator is traumatized by threats that appear in the landscape, outside her window, and in her head. The non-linear narrative and use of repetition makes the movie a deliberately disorienting experience. There are no simple explanations for what unfolds, but enough clues to keep things compelling. Along the way, different time periods and events are reshuffled and occasionally repeated, creating something that resembles a collage of formative experiences.

That the movie was shot during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions partly explains its small cast, remote setting and minimal dialogue, but it's equally likely that Jenkin, Woodvine, and their collaborators set out to achieve something this understated. In the long silences, it's impossible not to ponder where we're from and how the people in -- or departed from -- our lives make us who we are, and what our own version of this surreal but strangely familiar story might look like.