Game Review: Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson Assumes Character in Critical Look at 90s Rave Culture
Produced by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous though undernourished debut feature turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, 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 woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for townies, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Duel
The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, fuming after David strangles his dog. Still, a grimly amusing duel unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it leads to a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that dips close to rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light in the early stages, he now lets rip with the full lysergic grand display, soundtracked to a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like an extended promo 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.
Game releases in British and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
