The work of Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous if slight first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Venal pillhead David (the actor) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own family home. In no time, he's overturned in the wreckage 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 noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on 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. Still, a grimly amusing duel takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Vibe
Just a single important plot development, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that dips close to rural terror. Director John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of insects in the light in the early stages, 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 extended promo 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 UK video industry.
The film releases in British and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
