The work of Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own family home. In no time, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is broken Britain personified: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Duel
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is clearly conveyed. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny duel unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
There is only one key story turn, but it leads to a comically executed rampage 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 artful shots of insects in the light in the early stages, he now goes all out with the full lysergic grand display, soundtracked to a wild organ version 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 emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
Game is in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
