The work of Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Venal pillhead David (the actor) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to break into his own family home. Before you can say, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – 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 personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny Duel
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The central theme – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, fuming after David strangles his dog. Still, a grimly amusing standoff takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of cider, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it results in a comically executed rampage on the woodland paths that dips close to rural terror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: 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 psychedelic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a frenzied keyboard rendition 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 et al into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
The film releases in British and Irish cinemas from November 17.
