Produced by Bristol sound co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous though undernourished debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own parents. Before you can say, he's overturned in the remains of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Duel
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into past scenes 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 properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, enraged after David strangles his dog. Still, a darkly funny standoff unfolds – David eager to get away; the Woodsman denying his container of scrumpy, intent on soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, projecting heavy threat in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single important plot development, but it results in a hilariously staged chaotic run on the forest trails that dips close to rural terror. Filmmaker John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of bugs in headlights in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, accompanied by a frenzied keyboard rendition of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an extended promo 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 Brit music promo scene.
The film is in British and Irish cinemas from 17 November.
