Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own parents. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman 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 Darkly Funny Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, lingering excessively on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman denying his container of scrumpy, determined to dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
There is only one important plot development, but it leads to a hilariously staged rampage on the woodland paths that dips close to rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing artful shots of insects in the light in the opening part, he now lets rip 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 strident imagery to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
The film releases in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
