Review: 'Enys Men' is a singular work of folk horror, confounding and fascinating in equal measure

There are a handful of filmmakers — David Lynch and Alex Garland leap to mind — who can produce visually arresting and narratively confounding movies that unsettle the viewer’s mind. With the creepy curiosity “Enys Men,” filmmaker Mark Jenkin might be joining those ranks.

From the dialogue-free images Jenkin delivers in the early going, viewers will glean some information. It’s 1973, near a rocky coastline (the movie was filmed in Cornwall), and a solitary wildlife volunteer (played by Mary Woodbine) has a daily routine. She walks from the cottage to a cliffside, observes a clump of white flowers, walks back to the cottage, and records her observations and the ground temperature around the flowers. Then she fires up her generator so she can heat up a pot of tea and answer her two-way radio, then goes to bed by candlelight.

As days turn into weeks, though, the volunteer starts seeing things. A young woman (Flo Crowe) in the cottage. A mysterious boatman (Edward Rowe). A choir of young girls. And a row of lichen sprouting from a scar across her belly. A fulminating preacher (played by Mary Woodvine’s father, English character actor John Woodbine).

Does it make sense? Not always. But on a subconscious level, the juxtaposition of these images creates an atmosphere of folk horror — more mythology than narrative.

Jenkin is director, screenwriter, cinematographer, film editor, sound editor and composer, so his vision is undiluted. The result is a raw, film that gets past a viewer’s defenses and burrows under one’s skin.

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‘Enys Men’

★★★

Opens Friday, March 31, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City). Not rated, but probably R for some nudity, a moment of sexual content, and some bloodshed. Running time: 91 minutes.