Produced by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous if slight first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal drug user David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own family home. Before you can say, he's upside down in the remains of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for townies, he is broken Britain embodied: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The central theme – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, fuming after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny duel takes hold – David eager to get away; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of cider, intent on dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Vibe
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed 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 impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now lets rip with the full lysergic grand display, accompanied by a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like an elongated music video than a complete narrative, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
The film releases in British and Irish cinemas from November 17.
