Produced by Bristol sound co-founder the musician-producer, this sharp-edged though slight first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal drug user David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own family home. Before you can say, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his normal activities. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, fuming after David kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David eager to get away; the Poacher denying his container of cider, determined to dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
There is only one key story turn, but it results in a hilariously staged rampage on the woodland paths that dips close to folk horror. Director John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now lets rip with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, accompanied by a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like 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 making the leap from the Brit music promo scene.
The film is in UK and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
