If Bait was about a fishing town’s struggle between giving in to potential economic opportunities versus the loss of a fishing tradition and a man’s struggle to reconcile with the wishes of his family and the other townsfolk, Rose of Nevada seems to take on a very similar thread. Except, the fishing boat this time around is where prosperity is to be found for our protagonists instead of tourism. But at what cost? The central narrative of the film questions the conceit of nostalgia about a time when things were more prosperous for the town (such as the scene when our protagonist Nick goes to the bar after having returned for the first time). Can we ever go back to how things were before? Should we?
Families grieve over the loss of their loved ones at sea, and find hope and respite, no matter how delusional it seems, when another person such as Nick returns to take their place. People appear to be not who they seem to be – or is that truly the case? The journey of a fishing boat out at sea isolates and makes one delusional about the passage of time. Even as one is counting the days away through the rhythmic and cyclic nature of sorting fish.
The last half hour of this loses a bit of steam; it could have used some variation outside of the repetitive nature of doing the same task over and over again of dumping ice, organizing fish into boxes and so forth. Which may be the point, but doesn’t compel as much as the buildup prior to that. Yet the 16mm cinematography and sound design are on point much like Jenkins’s other works, and it’s nice to see Jenkin finally get his due working with bigger names on a larger budget so to speak.