The reviews are uniformly warm and the spread is narrow: nothing below a qualified approval, nothing that reads as a rave without a reservation. Almost every critic starts with the look and sound of the thing. The grainy 16mm photography, the post-dubbed audio and the close attention to nets, boats and the labour of fishing are praised again and again, and several call this Mark Jenkin’s most accessible film so far, or his most ambitious, or his most genre-leaning; the descriptions vary but the admiration does not. George MacKay’s performance is singled out most often, with Callum Turner named alongside him. The reservations, where they appear, cluster around the story rather than the style. The Playlist finds the narrative bumpy and convoluted in places, The Hollywood Reporter notes some mismatch between image and plot, and Empire calls the film baffling, though as a compliment. Nobody dissents outright.
L
Little White Lies
20 April 2026 · 4/5/5 · Rafa Sales Ross
100
Mark Jenkin’s third feature is a moving tale of personal versus communal sacrifice in a Cornish fishing village. The critic singles out the textured analogue cinematography and strong performances, especially George MacKay’s, for praise.
Read the full review →I
IndieWire
7 September 2025 · festival review · Sam Bodrojan
85*
The review hails the film as haunting aesthetic nirvana, a singular Cornish folk tale anchored by the performances of George MacKay and Callum Turner in its slippery time-unstuck narrative.
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The Independent
23 April 2026
85*
The critic praises Jenkin as one of Britain’s most original filmmakers for crafting another 16mm gem that immerses viewers in the textures, sounds, and unease of the Cornish coast. They highlight how the film blends star performances into its haunting, time-bending narrative about identity and community loss.
Read the full review →The review celebrates the handcrafted, fable-like quality and captivating textures of the ghost story, noting how Jenkin's precise style builds emotional depth and an otherworldly aura around the time-travel premise.
Read the full review →A
The AV Club
17 June 2026 · B+ · Monica Castillo
83
The critic describes the lo-fi time-travel tale as an immersive mystery with an otherworldly 16mm visual style, praising how the performances ground the story of men unmoored from time.
Read the full review →E
Empire
23 April 2026 · Neil Alcock
80*
Jenkin delivers another stubbornly analogue, baffling film about Cornish communities and the supernatural tension between past and present, with filmmaking that is the star of the show. The critic singles out the mesmerising shots and sensory impact that make the film one you can virtually feel.
Read the full review →L
Los Angeles Times
19 June 2026 · Tim Grierson
80*
The review calls the film transfixing and increasingly despairing as two fishermen's lives are altered by a cosmic misadventure. It singles out the eerie, disquieting design that slowly ensnares the viewer in its net.
Read the full review →H
The Hollywood Reporter
30 August 2025 · festival review · Caryn James
80*
The critic finds the time-loop drama elegant and enigmatic, praising its haunting atmosphere, strong lead performances especially from George MacKay, and imaginative storytelling despite some visual-narrative mismatches.
Read the full review →T
Time Out
9 April 2026 · ★★★★ · Anna Smith
80
Eerie yet entertaining time-twisting mystery rooted in fishing folklore that is Jenkin’s most accessible film so far. The critic praises the atmospheric analogue style, visual details and the blend of myths and mystery.
Read the full review →S
Screen Daily
30 August 2025 · festival review
75*
Atmospheric time-travel tale that combines familiar genre tropes with Jenkin’s unique visual style and a resonant message of community. It is perhaps his most accessible film to date.
Read the full review →N
The New Yorker
26 June 2026
75*
The critic describes the film as an unapologetically preposterous ghost story told with unwinking seriousness and rigorous sense of place. Jenkin is praised for his attention to process and the tactile details of the Cornish fishing village setting.
Read the full review →F
Film Comment
14 May 2026 · festival review · Imogen Sara Smith
The critic highlights the film's grainy 16mm visuals and close-up focus on the grueling work of fishing, which trap viewers in the characters' sensory and emotional experiences of grief and loss. It praises the unexpected supernatural twist and the film's unsettling answer to questions about reclaiming the past.
Read the full review →G
The Guardian
30 August 2025 · festival review · Peter Bradshaw
Jenkin’s time-slipping ghost story about a lost trawler returning to a Cornish fishing village is an arresting, enigmatic drama steeped in loss, memory and coastal rhythms. The director’s distinct 16mm aesthetic creates an uncanny, dream-like effect that makes this another bold statement from the filmmaker.
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The New York Times
18 June 2026 · Critic’s Pick · Brandon Yu
The critic finds the film richly textured and mesmerizing in its atmosphere. Jenkin is praised for his scuzzy, tactile cinematography and creaky audio that reconstructs filmic grammar in evocative ways.
Read the full review →T
The Times
22 April 2026 · ★★★★☆ · Kevin Maher
Jenkin’s most ambitious film yet follows two fishermen transported back to prosperous 1990s Cornwall on a time-travelling boat. It is magical and hard not to love, capturing Cornish life with a twist through its extraordinary premise and execution.
Read the full review →E
Eye for Film
24 April 2026 · Jennie Kermode
80*
The review highlights Jenkin's refined impressionistic style focused on objects and present moments, grounding the time-slip mystery in human feeling and documentary echoes. It notes a sense of hope amid the psychological and temporal elements.
Read the full review →S
The Skinny
20 April 2026 · ★★★★ · Ben Nicholson
80
The critic calls it a wonderful and ghostly film, a hauntological odyssey with an inexplicable time shift that creates an undertow of inevitability. It singles out the singular experimental style, post-dubbed audio, and painterly celluloid visuals that heighten the tension between the two leads' responses to being adrift in time.
Read the full review →D
Deadline
30 August 2025 · festival review · Damon Wise
75*
The film is a hypnotic study of mental disintegration and time-bending psychodrama that fuses elements from the director's prior works into a broader commentary on economic decline in Cornwall. It stands out as Jenkin's most genre-leaning effort yet, leaning toward horror while preserving his signature glitchy, hand-distressed visual style.
Read the full review →P
The Playlist
30 August 2025 · B- · Marshall Shaffer
70
The critic sees it as a level-up for Jenkin with bigger stars and resources but finds the narrative bumpy and convoluted at times. They praise the visceral portrayal of the sea and masterful sound design.
Read the full review →Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate