Game Review: Band Frontman Jason Williamson Assumes Role in Sceptical Examination at 90s Rave Culture
Produced by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though slight first film turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Self-serving pillhead David (Marc Bessant) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own parents. In no time, he's overturned in the remains of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward townies, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his everyday life. The central theme – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, fuming after David strangles his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman denying his container of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a comically executed rampage on the forest trails that dips close to folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: 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 grand display, accompanied by a wild organ version 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 and others into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
Game is in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
