Game Review: Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson Takes On Character in Sceptical Examination at Ecstasy Generation Era
Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though slight debut feature turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to break into his own parents. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, fuming after David strangles his dog. Still, a grimly amusing duel takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a hilariously staged chaotic run on the woodland paths that dips close to rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was focused intently 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 wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a fully fledged drama, 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.
The film is in British and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
