The work of Bristol sound co-founder the musician-producer, this sharp-edged though slight first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Venal pillhead David (Marc Bessant) 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 remains of his car in a woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (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.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his normal activities. The central theme – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny duel takes hold – David eager to get away; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it leads to a hilariously staged chaotic run on the woodland paths that dips close to folk horror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now goes all out with the full lysergic grand display, accompanied by 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 follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
Game releases in UK and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
