Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, 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 woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with no time for townies, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Duel
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, enraged after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, determined to dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
There is only one key story turn, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the woodland paths that dips close to 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 goes all out with the full psychedelic grand display, soundtracked to a wild organ version 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 releases in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
