🔗 Share this article Game Review: Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson Assumes Role in Critical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era The work of Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous if slight first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal pillhead David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own family home. Before you can say, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (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.” A Shaky Start 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 clumsily segueing into past scenes of his everyday life. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, enraged after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny duel takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of cider, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent 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 woodland paths that veers toward 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 lysergic 21-gun salute, accompanied by a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a complete narrative, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene. Game releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.