The work of Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though undernourished debut feature casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, 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 forest – 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 noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these vignettes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, enraged after David strangles his dog. Still, a darkly funny duel unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, determined to dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it leads to a comically executed rampage on the forest trails that veers toward rural terror. 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 psychedelic grand display, 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 follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into making the leap from the Brit music promo scene.
The film is in UK and Irish cinemas from November 17.
