The work of Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to break into his own family home. Before you can say, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for townies, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, enraged after David strangles his dog. Still, a darkly funny duel takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Vibe
There is only one 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 showy imagery: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like 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 making the leap from the Brit music promo scene.
The film releases in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
