Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged though undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to burgle his own parents. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with impatience toward townies, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to free himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were mainly focused on number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin 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 eager to get away; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of cider, intent on dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative 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 forest trails that veers toward rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of insects in the light in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full psychedelic grand display, soundtracked to a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an extended promo than a fully fledged drama, but there’s enough bold visuals to suggest that Minton could emulate Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
The film releases in UK and Irish theaters from November 17.
