Enys Men

Set in the spring of 1973, "Enys Men" follows a wildlife researcher documenting the growth of flowers on an isolated island off the coast of Cornwall, whose daily repetitive rituals slowly morph into a psychological (and possibly supernatural) nightmare.

There's really no way around it--this is certainly not a film where much "happens", and it is bound to frustrate viewers expecting a substantial payoff. You will not get it. However, there's also no way around arguing that "Enys Men" is utterly gorgeous from beginning to end. Shot on aged film stock, it is littered with scratches, lens flares, and enough textural grit to appease any self-respecting grindhouse aficionado. The island setting, riddled with stone ruins of an old settlement, is haunting and beautiful. Stylistically, it all comes together as a visual and thematic mashup of films such as "The Shining", Robert Altman's "Images", "Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles", and even "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre".

While some reviewers have asserted that the filmmakers have approached the material in a literary manner, the real narrative locus here is wholly visual, and the director presents a repetitious scattershot of images that make suggestions but demand the audience imagine the connective tissue themselves. There is less than a paragraph of dialogue throughout it, and the subtle visual nods to the island's historical background emerge perhaps more strongly than the character herself, rendering the film an immersive interpretive exercise for the audience that is engrossing but certainly not thrilling.

"Enys Men" unfurls itself slowly, beginning as a quiet meditation on a researcher's lonesome study of nature, before slowly descending into a nightmare world where the natural landscape, figments of the researcher's imagination and/or individuals from her past (including a young woman who obliquely appears alongside her, possibly a younger version of herself), and spectral figures connected to the island's history (miners, doomed mariners, and a priest) all collide into a perverse tapestry. Even milkmaids on a tin canister of dried milk in the kitchen come to life here.

While there is perhaps no tangible throughline in terms of narrative, I think the film succeeds as a twisted portrait of human isolation. As the researcher's rations and resources dwindle, nature and history begin to take over. Lichens grow on both the flowers she studies as well as on her body itself--the island's landscape, its ancient stone monolith, and the ghosts of its past, tighten their grip both mentally and physically. There's little relief and even less explanation, but an unshakeable ominous tone pervades from start to finish. It is certainly not a film that aims to traditionally entertain, but it is one to get lost in--or consumed by. 8/10.

Seems most people either love it or dislike/hate it... I liked it but probably won't watch it again anytime soon. I don't have a clue about the regional legends, folktales or cultural markers the movie is said to reference.

What I do have is a lot of patience and quite a bit of imagination. It also helped that it was screened at a folk horror event so I had some context for it. Thus the film did keep my interest as I tried to piece together WTH was going on, and creating a story within my head as the movie went on. The atmosphere is eerie and the movie overall is experimentally interesting so I think the director is on to something, I'd just hope his next effort would be something where I don't have to create most of the story for myself.

Go see if you're ok with experimental, slow-paced stuff that doesn't offer you much answers.

Avoid if you want your horror with action and explanations, and have a low threshold for experimental stuff.

I watched this in a quite full small cinema in Blaenau Ffestiniog. I live horror, love independent cinema and really love independent British cinema.

However my goodwill can't detract from this one being a bit of a pretentious stinker. As an aside I hope 'Bait' isn't like 'Enys Men'.

I just could not get into it. This might have something to do with having to sit through half an hours worth of abstract art-film beforehand. But regardless, the story, the motivation of 'Enys Men' is completely shrouded in unnecessary mystery. Yes, to give it its due the viewing was incredibly intense, almost unbearable but without any payoff. The ending doesn't tie up the loose ends, which I quite like as a narratorial device but frustrated me on this occasion.

I enjoyed Bait, Jenkins' previous film so I had an idea of his odd dated style. Bait had a much more conventional narrative whereas Enys men is very layered, rhythmic and dream-like. Things like linear time and space are almost blurred occasionally. This film is highly symbolic in an almost Lynchian sense. It's unsettling in a psychological way and not in a traditional horror sense. The horror is from everyday tragedy and the haunted memories this creates.

The film is unfortunately rather boring because of the highly repetitive nature of the same person doing the same boring routine day after day. What this film lacks is stylishness and modernity. Jenkins seems obsessed with the ordinary and mundane. There are several close-ups of seagulls flying, waves crashing, woman making tea, reading a book, over and over again..... But if all you show in your films in the ordinary mundanity of life then your films will be feel that way to the viewer. Slowly more unsettling/bizarre elements are fragmented into this bland everyday existence but it doesn't break up the dull pacing.

At least after the end of the film me and my friend felt compelled to question what it all had meant. What was the point of this symbolic image or that one.

The main theme seems to be about complex unresolved grief. Grief that haunts us over and over. Survivor's guilt - what we should have done to save the person but didn't do. However, there is something more complicated than one person's grief being explored here. There is a whole Island's worth of historical grief but it is unclear how that relates to the main character in the film.

I couldn't say I would recommend this film. Maybe someone more familiar with the type of grief it was exploring would get something more out of it.

An infuriatingly dull and frustrating watch which seems to hint at lots of interesting ideas that don't develop in any way. I loved bait and while this uses a similar aesthetic it lacks anything approaching a story, character development or depth. It's also mind numbingly repetitive.

I see other reviews saying that people might not "get" what this film is really about or saying. If that's the case then gods sake please enlighten us on what there is to understand rather than smugly pontificating. I feel like in reality it's not a lot. And if it requires some prior understanding of 'Cornish culture' to understand what's going on then sorry, I don't realise I had to revise before I watched it.