Produced by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous though slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own family home. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, enraged after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny duel unfolds – David eager to get away; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a hilariously staged rampage on the woodland paths that veers toward rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light in the opening part, he now lets rip with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a fully fledged drama, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
The film releases in British and Irish cinemas from November 17.
