Film Analysis: Band Frontman Jason Williamson Assumes Role in Sceptical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era
Produced by Bristol sound co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous though slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own parents. Before you can say, he's upside down in the wreckage 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 personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, fuming after David kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny duel takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of cider, determined to dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the woodland paths that veers toward rural terror. 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 emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into making the leap from the Brit music promo scene.
The film is in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
