Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving pillhead David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own parents. Before you can say, he's upside down in the remains of his car in a woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Still, a grimly amusing duel takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, intent on dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
There is only one key story turn, but it leads to a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that veers toward folk horror. Director John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently 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. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a complete narrative, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
Game releases in British and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
