Helmed by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this sharp-edged though slight first film turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Venal drug user David (the actor) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to burgle 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 Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward townies, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on number one – is clearly conveyed. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, enraged after David kills his dog. Still, a grimly amusing duel unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman denying his container of scrumpy, intent on dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Vibe
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a hilariously staged rampage on the forest trails that dips close to folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light in the early stages, he now lets rip with the full lysergic grand display, accompanied by a wild organ version 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 successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
Game releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
