Helmed by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if slight first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal pillhead David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. In no time, he's overturned in the remains of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Duel
The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, enraged after David strangles his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David eager to get away; the Woodsman denying his container of cider, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed rampage on the forest trails 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 lysergic grand display, soundtracked to a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a fully fledged drama, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into making the leap from the UK video industry.
Game releases in British and Irish cinemas from November 17.
