Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if slight first film turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Venal drug user David (the actor) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Duel
The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his normal activities. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on number one – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, enraged after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing duel unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman denying his container of cider, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it results in a comically executed rampage on the woodland paths that dips close to folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights 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. Game feels more like 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 successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
The film releases in British and Irish theaters from 17 November.
