Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though undernourished debut feature casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving pillhead David (the actor) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to break into his own family home. Before you can say, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with no time for city dwellers, he is broken Britain personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his everyday life. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of cider, intent on dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video 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 impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights 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 fully fledged drama, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
Game is in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
