Cold Open: After a long-and-intentional panning of scenery slowly bleeds into partially spoken sentences as the audience deciphers a boat has mysteriously returned after 30 long years of being declared lost at sea, the story of Rose of Nevada (which is also the boat’s name) unfolds.

So, what happens when a couple of fishermen and an Old Man of the Sea somehow get tangled up in a time-traveling tale while working aboard a nautical nightmare?

The initial 15 minutes of this feature film by writer-director Mark Jenkin both instantly hooked me with its basic premise, but it also felt like it was pulling out fingernails as its storyline defined very few storyline aspects that didn’t feel like opinions of it characters. In addition to struggling to decode what’s happening on screen, paying attention to (what seem to be) minor details proves harrowing, as those tend to be game-changing aspects later on.

With all of that being said, Nick (portrayed by George MacKay) and Liam (Callum Turner) receive the call of duty to join Capt. Murgey (Francis Magee) aboard this vessel as fishermen without knowing its mysterious backstory. Hard work is completed during its short journey, but when the crew returns to its blue-collar community, something strange happens; they return to a different time, but the exact same place.

Mistaken as the original crew (that was believed to be lost at sea), no one seems to notice (or care) about this misperception except Nick, who’s desperate to return to his family and fix up their dilapidated domicile. But returning to his present day, 30 years into the future, will be the most mentally demanding dilemma he will ever face.

“Guilt’s a hard shadow to live under…”

Nick (George MacKay) and Liam (Callum Turner) take a time-traveling boat ride to rewrite their past in Rose of Nevada.

First of all, this British science-fiction drama basically defines the slow-burn storytelling formula that may be popular overseas, but to me, it was difficult to determine what was a major development and what wasn’t, as it happens. On top of that, the mostly gloomy atmosphere and aging special effects combined to create an ominous feeling hidden in plain sight. As a viewer, you don’t know exactly what sinister forces will pop up during the most unexpected of moments, but that something WILL eventually happen — or at least I hoped it would.

Sadly, the jump scares never arrive, but when the fishermen return home, Liam goes with the flow, accepting a wife and young child, but Nick has reservations about his situation. Rewriting history, the crew makes trip after trip, returning to great paydays without filling in the characters’ backstory, making the process feel hollow.

I did enjoy Magee’s Old Man and the Sea performance, but not everyone is desperate to escape their past. Eventually, mistaken identity is addressed and the responsibility of one person’s place in the world is questioned — possibly the film’s main theme — but most of these characters’ background information happens to be “lost in the wind.”

Important things are left unsaid between these characters and it’s crystal clear that the sea can play tricks with your mind, but Nick’s inability to prevent his own demise is baffling, to say the least. There’s definitely something spooky about being lost at sea, as someone who still suffers from motion sickness can attest. Whether or not it’s something sinister, I’m usually not looking forward to it.

This kind of hesitation about a now-returned boat never seems to bother Nick… until it’s too late.

Rose of Nevada integrates the concepts of community inclusiveness and personal sacrifices that must be made for the greater good, but stops short of providing a solid conclusion, which is also a major complaint. I normally applaud avant-garde filmmakers making unique storytelling decisions, but I will always question storytellers who limit their characters to only one answer for all their problems (death), instead of working them out (like a video game situation, or a Tom Cruise scenario).

I was expecting a little more insight than a sudden black screen at its conclusion.

In my younger years, I was absolutely fascinated by the concept of time traveling and I was usually thrilled to see how different filmmakers broke their stories on the big screen. These days, I’ve finally realized only a select few filmmakers can actually tell a story that makes a hero’s journey feel like it makes a difference to me once the time-traveling credits roll.

As the writer, director, editor, cinematographer and composer, Jenkin was working overtime with this project. The multi-hyphenate could have used a little help with the script, as the dilemma is just small stakes here: the future of humanity isn’t threatened, it’s the sanity of one man who can’t seem to escape this sticky situation of a story. Unresolved, this strange new world isn’t a Perfect Storm, but an attempt at trying terror (and patience).

“Only one thing worse than being at sea… not being at sea.”