Helmed by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous if undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on the ecstasy-fueled club scene. Venal drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in another flashback tries to break into his own family home. Before you can say, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a woodland – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those loud individuals from up on the heath.”
Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Duel
The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the ecstasy generation were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher arrives, enraged after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of cider, determined to dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.
Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility
There is only one important plot development, but it leads to a comically executed chaotic run on the forest trails that veers toward folk horror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing artful shots of insects in the light in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full psychedelic 21-gun salute, 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 and others into successfully graduating from the UK video industry.
The film releases in UK and Irish cinemas from November 17.
