Beats is worth the rave
Beats (R16, 101 minutes) Directed by Brian Welsh Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett
★★★★
By 1994, the British rave scene was pretty much a fag-end of its former self.
The 1988/89 Summer of Love had been and gone a long time before. But, as young Johnno says to his best and only friend Spanner, early in Beats, ‘‘Just because it’s all been done, doesn’t mean it’s been done by us.’’
Johnno and Spanner are kids – recent school leavers – living on a rundown estate in an unnamed satellite town near Edinburgh.
Johnno’s mum has a new bloke in her life, who seems decent enough, but is trying way too hard to step into a dad role and set down ‘‘the rules"to his would-be stepson.
Spanner meanwhile, is living in a hell not really of his own making. Spanner is a sensitive boy hiding behind the mask of a tough kid whenever he’s out on the town.
At home, Spanner’s psychopathic big brother is running a petty crime and drug ring from the kitchen table, while ritually humiliating Spanner whenever he feels the need to impress his toxic mates. The boys get wind of one, last, illegal warehouse rave, at an unnamed location, from their local pirate radio station. And, as you would, given the circumstances, they resolve to get there by any means necessary, even Spanner stealing his brother’s cash to finance the trip.
Put like that, Beats is the old story about that last-chance-to-bea-teenager before adulthood folds you in its clammy and compromised embrace, set to an iconic soundtrack.
It’s a sturdy chassis that has supported everything from
American Graffiti to Pump Up The Volume and a thousand films – great and terrible – in between.
Beats obeys the rules, but triumphs over the occasional predictability of its arcs with a couple of outstanding performances, some uncommonly sharp and economical dialogue (occasionally so regionally authentic that I truly couldn’t understand a word of it – don’t worry, you’ll get the gist), and an absolutely storming selection of tunes, as curated by the mighty J D Twitch of Optimo.
As Johnno and Spanner, Cristian Ortega and Lorn Macdonald are engaging, charismatic, and basically perfectly cast. Macdonald especially, probably isn’t going to be able to avoid breaking out on the back of his work here.
Beats is a simple structure, loaded with detail, dialogue and situations that only a writer who lived it could have conjured up.
Bravo. Go to see it. And tell your friendly local cinema manager to turn the volume all the way up. It’ll be worth it.