Film Analysis: Band Frontman Jason Williamson Assumes Role in Critical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era
The work of Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous if slight debut feature turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Venal pillhead David (Marc Bessant) first robs 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 forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “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 meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman denying his container of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that veers toward rural terror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of insects in the light in the early stages, he now goes all out with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, accompanied by a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a complete narrative, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into making the leap from the Brit music promo scene.
Game releases in UK and Irish theaters from 17 November.
