Produced by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though undernourished debut feature turns a sceptical eye on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving pillhead David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to break into his own family home. In no time, he's overturned in the remains of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with impatience toward townies, he is broken Britain embodied: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny Confrontation
Game gets off to a shaky start, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his normal activities. The central theme – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, fuming after David kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff unfolds – David eager to get away; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of cider, determined to dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
There is only one important plot development, but it results in a hilariously staged chaotic run on the forest trails that dips close to folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups 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 UK video industry.
The film releases in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
