Helmed by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this sharp-edged though undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own parents. In no time, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (vocalist Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for 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 meticulously detailing David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for themselves – is firmly made. But these brief episodes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, fuming after David kills his dog. Still, a grimly amusing duel takes hold – David eager to get away; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it leads to a hilariously staged rampage on the forest trails that veers toward folk horror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: 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, accompanied by 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 follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into making the leap from the UK video industry.
The film releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.
