Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though slight debut feature turns a sceptical eye on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own family home. Before you can say, he's overturned in the remains of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with no time for townies, 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, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his normal activities. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on number one – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
There is only one key story turn, but it results in a hilariously staged chaotic run on the woodland paths that dips close to 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 grand display, accompanied by a wild organ version 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 successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
The film releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
