Produced by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. 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 overturned in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with impatience toward townies, he is a fractured society personified: “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 pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his everyday life. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on themselves – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman turns up, enraged after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny standoff unfolds – David eager to get away; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
There is only one important plot development, but it results in a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that dips close to rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots 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. The movie resembles an elongated music video than a complete narrative, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
The film is in UK and Irish theaters from 17 November.
