Helmed by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous if undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own family home. Before you can say, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for 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
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on pedantically chronicling 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 themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, fuming after David kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny duel takes hold – David eager to get away; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of cider, determined to dousing 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 results in a comically executed chaotic run on the woodland paths that dips close to rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an extended promo than a complete narrative, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
Game releases in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
