Produced by Bristol sound co-founder the musician-producer, this sharp-edged if undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Venal drug user David (the actor) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. Before you can say, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for city dwellers, he is broken Britain embodied: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Confrontation
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these brief episodes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, fuming after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman denying his container of cider, intent on dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it leads to a comically executed chaotic run on the woodland paths that dips close to folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was focused intently 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 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 is in UK and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
