Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if slight first film turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to break into his own family home. In no time, he's overturned in the remains of his car in a woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, lingering excessively on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, fuming after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny duel takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of cider, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the woodland paths that dips close to 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 21-gun salute, accompanied by a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a fully fledged drama, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
The film releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
