Produced by Bristol sound co-founder the musician-producer, this sharp-edged if undernourished debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Venal drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own family home. Before you can say, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is broken Britain embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his normal activities. The central theme – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, fuming after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of cider, determined to dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it results in a hilariously staged chaotic run on the forest trails that dips close to folk horror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights 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 fully fledged drama, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.
The film is in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
