The work of Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Venal pillhead David (the actor) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. In no time, he's upside down in the remains of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start 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 seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is clearly conveyed. 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 duel unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a hilariously staged rampage on the forest trails that dips close to folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing artful shots of bugs in headlights in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full lysergic grand display, 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 successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
The film is in British and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
