🔗 Share this article Game Review: Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson Assumes Character in Sceptical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Self-serving pillhead David (Marc Bessant) first robs an unconscious dealer, 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 angry eye of the Woodsman (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for city dwellers, he is broken Britain personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.” A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Confrontation Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on number one – is clearly conveyed. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny duel takes hold – David eager to get away; the Poacher denying his container of cider, intent on dousing him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley. Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility Just a single key story turn, but it leads to a hilariously staged chaotic run on the woodland paths that veers toward rural terror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the opening part, he now lets rip with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like an elongated music video than a fully fledged drama, 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 theaters from November 17.