✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom · 2019
1h 40m
Director Brian Welsh
Starring Laura Fraser, Lorn Macdonald, Cristian Ortega, Gemma McElhinney
Genre Comedy, Crime, Drama
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Best friends Spanner and Johnno plan to attend an illegal rave held in Scotland during the summer of 1994. But their diva behavior causes friction with Johnno's family who consider his relationship with Spanner a bad influence as they try to keep them apart.
Beats catches the misery and desperation that powered rave culture and the era of DayGlo shell suits. The disappointment is that the Welsh strips all the color out of Hurley's vibrant play, which he originally staged with a live DJ accompaniment.
It’s absolutely a period piece (heightened by being in black and white), but its humanity is ageless, serving up an irresistible amount of thrills, spills and jaw-aches.
Beats is a truly heartfelt rites-of-passage tale — an immersive, intoxicating portrayal of the rave scene at its peak.
Beats proceeds to give a dying scene its euphoric due, in a dazzling digression from stage-based form.
Compared with Mia Hansen-Løve’s resonant French house drama Eden, or Michael Winterbottom’s kaleidoscopic 24 Hour Party People, these beats sound tinny.
The Hollywood Reporter by Neil Young
An infectiously enjoyable slice of knockabout nostalgia that wears its Trainspotting heritage proudly on its rough-edged tartan sleeve.
Film Threat by Tiffany Tchobanian
Welsh’s intentions are clear and his passion is palpable.
The Playlist by Warren Cantrell
Careful and deliberate character work in the script paints a striking picture of two friends who are outcasts in their little world yet still find a way to integrate into a community.
The Observer (UK) by Wendy Ide
It’s a terrific little film that combines the earthy humour and honesty of a Shane Meadows movie with an unexpected expressionistic section – flooded with colour – that channels the boys’ joyful dancefloor abandon.
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