Film Analysis: Band Frontman Jason Williamson Assumes Character in Sceptical Examination at Ecstasy Generation Era
Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though undernourished debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own parents. Before you can say, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is broken Britain embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
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 normal activities. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman denying his container of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed chaotic run on the woodland paths that veers toward folk horror. Director John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of bugs in headlights in the opening part, he now lets rip with the full psychedelic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like 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 et al into making the leap from the Brit music promo scene.
The film releases in British and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
