200 films in 50 words, #7

The Road to Zennor, dir. Mark Jenkin (1976), Sofa (BFI Player), Home, 20/1/23.

Is a two-minute film cheating? Tough. Two minutes of magic before tea. The Cornish placenames like poetry, the road signs staggered stanzas. Jenkin’s clockwork camera encases scenes like a 1980s child’s Viewmaster. With his partner narrating, they excavate their landscapes, their lives. Kernow’s “ancient future” hangs sublimely in the silences.