Produced by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous though slight debut feature casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Venal drug user David (Marc Bessant) first robs an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to break into 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 Woodsman (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.”
A Shaky Start and Grimly Amusing Confrontation
The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his everyday life. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for themselves – is clearly conveyed. 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 desperate to escape; the Woodsman denying his container of cider, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, exuding ponderous menace in the role, is reminiscent of Michael Smiley.
Visual Flair and Music Video Sensibility
Just a single key story turn, but it leads to a hilariously staged chaotic run on the woodland paths that veers toward rural terror. Director John Minton finally gets to go all in with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of insects in the light in the opening part, he now lets rip with the full psychedelic grand display, accompanied by a wild organ version 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 Brit music promo scene.
The film releases in UK and Irish theaters from 17 November.
