Game Review: Band Frontman Jason Williamson Takes On Character in Critical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era
Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though slight first film turns a sceptical eye on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. In no time, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (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 Darkly Funny Duel
Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his normal activities. The central theme – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Vibe
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed rampage on the forest trails that veers toward rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, accompanied by a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an extended promo than a fully fledged drama, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
Game releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
