Film Analysis: Band Frontman Jason Williamson Takes On Role in Sceptical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era
Helmed by Bristol sound co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous though undernourished debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving pillhead David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own family home. In no time, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Duel
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 everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth 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 Woodsman arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff takes hold – David eager to get away; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Vibe
There is only one key story turn, but it results in a hilariously staged chaotic run on the woodland paths that veers toward folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light 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. Game feels more like an elongated music video than a complete narrative, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
The film is in British and Irish cinemas from November 17.
