Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though undernourished debut feature turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own parents. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, fuming after David strangles his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David eager to get away; the Woodsman denying his container of cider, intent on dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
There is only one important plot development, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that veers toward rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light in the opening part, he now lets rip with the full psychedelic grand display, accompanied by a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a complete narrative, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into making the leap from the Brit music promo scene.
The film releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
