Helmed by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous if slight debut feature turns a sceptical eye on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal drug user David (the actor) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own parents. Before you can say, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – 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 loud individuals from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his normal activities. 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 grimly amusing standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of cider, determined to dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that veers toward rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing artful shots of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now lets rip with the full psychedelic grand display, soundtracked to a wild organ version 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 follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
Game releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
