Game Review: Band Frontman Jason Williamson Takes On Character in Sceptical Look at 90s Rave Culture
The work of Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, 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 (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward townies, he is a fractured society personified: “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 free himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff takes hold – David eager to get away; the Woodsman denying his container of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Vibe
There is only one key story turn, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that dips close to rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of insects in the light in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an extended promo 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 Brit music promo scene.
Game releases in British and Irish theaters from 17 November.
