Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if undernourished first film turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to burgle 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 (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate 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 Grimly Amusing Confrontation
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these brief episodes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, fuming after David kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny duel unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of cider, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
There is only one important plot development, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that veers toward rural terror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full psychedelic grand display, soundtracked to a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like an extended promo than a complete narrative, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
The film releases in British and Irish cinemas from November 17.
