Helmed by Bristol sound co-founder the musician-producer, this sharp-edged if slight first film turns a sceptical eye on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own parents. In no time, he's upside down in the remains of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
Game gets off to a shaky start, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his everyday life. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for 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 kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed rampage on the woodland paths that veers toward folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes 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 grand display, soundtracked to a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a fully fledged drama, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
Game is in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
