Produced by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if undernourished debut feature casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to break into his own parents. 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 a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, 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 vignettes are too thin 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 eager to get away; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of cider, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed chaotic run on the woodland paths that dips close to rural terror. Director John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now goes all out with the full psychedelic 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 bold visuals to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into making the leap from the UK video industry.
Game is in UK and Irish theaters from 17 November.
