Film Analysis: Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson Assumes Role in Sceptical Examination at 90s Rave Culture
Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving pillhead David (the actor) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to break into his own parents. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward townies, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his normal activities. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing duel takes hold – David eager to get away; the Woodsman denying his container of cider, determined to dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
There is only one key story turn, but it results in a hilariously staged rampage on the forest trails that veers toward folk horror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now lets rip with the full psychedelic grand display, accompanied by 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.
The film is in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
