🔗 Share this article Game Review: Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson Takes On Role in Sceptical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though slight first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an passed-out supplier, then in another flashback tries to break into his own parents. In no time, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Declining to free David, with no time for city dwellers, he is broken Britain embodied: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.” Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny Duel Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, fuming after David kills his dog. Still, a grimly amusing standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley. Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility Just a single important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed rampage 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 psychedelic grand display, accompanied by a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. Game feels more like an extended promo than a fully fledged drama, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into making the leap from the Brit music promo scene. The film is in British and Irish cinemas from November 17.