Helmed by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous if undernourished first film turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own parents. In no time, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free 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.”
Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff takes hold – David eager to get away; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of cider, determined to soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a hilariously staged chaotic run on the forest trails that veers toward rural terror. Director John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of insects in the light in the opening part, he now lets rip with the full lysergic grand display, 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 is in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
