Produced by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous though slight first film turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Venal drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to break into his own family home. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward townies, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Duel
The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks 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 insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, fuming after David strangles his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David eager to get away; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, intent on dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the woodland paths that veers toward rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now lets rip with the full psychedelic grand display, soundtracked to a frenzied keyboard rendition 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 follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into making the leap from the Brit music promo scene.
Game releases in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
