Helmed by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous if undernourished debut feature casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal pillhead David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Confrontation
Game gets off to a shaky start, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his everyday life. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, fuming after David strangles his dog. Still, a grimly amusing duel takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a hilariously staged chaotic run on the forest trails that veers toward folk horror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the opening part, he now lets rip 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 complete narrative, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into making the leap from the UK video industry.
The film releases in UK and Irish theaters from 17 November.
