Game Review: Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson Assumes Role in Critical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era

Produced by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this sharp-edged if undernourished first film turns a sceptical eye on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own family home. Before you can say, he's upside down in the remains of his car in a woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for city dwellers, he is broken Britain embodied: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”

Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny 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 normal activities. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, fuming after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, determined to dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.

Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Sensibility

There is only one key story turn, but it results in a comically executed rampage on the forest trails that dips close to rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now goes all out with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a frenzied keyboard rendition 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 and others into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.

Game releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.