Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though undernourished first film turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Venal drug user David (the actor) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. Before you can say, he's overturned in the remains of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful 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 loud individuals from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
Game gets off to a shaky start, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing 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 too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, fuming after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David eager to get away; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, determined to dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a comically executed rampage on the forest trails that veers toward rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the opening part, he now lets rip with the full psychedelic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to 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 bold visuals to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
Game is in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
