Beats (2019 British film)
Beats is a 2019 British drama film directed Brian Welsh.[3][4] It was based upon a play of the same name by Kieran Hurley, who adapted the screenplay with Welsh; Steven Soderbergh acts as an executive producer. The plot follows a pair of teenage friends in 1994 Scotland who try and sneak into an illegal rave party. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 17 May 2019.
| Beats | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Brian Welsh |
| Produced by | Camilla Bray |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Beats by Kieran Hurley |
| Starring |
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| Music by |
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| Cinematography | Benjamin Kračun |
| Edited by | Robin Hill |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Altitude Film Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | > £25,000[1] |
| Box office | $316,823[2] |
Premise
The film is set in 1994 in Scotland, against the backdrop of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which effectively banned outdoor rave parties across the whole of the UK. Best friends Johnno and Spanner are going to a rave for the first, and perhaps last time together.
Production
Brian Welsh first came into touch with Steven Soderbergh around 2015, when Soderberg has seen an episode of Black Mirror that Welsh had directed and approached him with a new project. While Welsh turned that down, he showed Soderberg his Beats script, who then joined as an executive producer on the film.[5] For the climatic rave sequence, filming took place in a warehouse in the Glasgow city centre, using over 1,500 background actors.[1]
Release
Beats had its international debut at the 2019 International Film Festival Rotterdam.[6] On 17 May 2019 it was released in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and on 7 November 2019 in the Netherlands.[7]
Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 52 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.64/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Well-acted and enlivened by an evocative soundtrack and period detail, Beats draws timeless themes out of its specific story and setting."[8] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[9]
Wendy Ide of The Guardian gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "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."[10] In a separate Guardian review, Mike McCahill gave it three stars, saying that "this teen bromance eventually escapes into amiable nostalgia and artful euphoria".[11]
References
- "How filmmakers created the riotous 1,500-strong warehouse rave in Beats". The Independent. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- "Beats (2019)". The Numbers. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- "Beats 2019, directed by Brian Welsh". Time Out London. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- "Meet the stars of 90s-set Scottish rave movie Beats - The Skinny". www.theskinny.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- Alistair Harkness (20 May 2019). "Brian Welsh interview: The Beats director on how Steven Soderbergh helped make his Scottish-set rave film a reality". The Scotsman. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- "Beats". IFFR (in Dutch). 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
- "Beats @ September Film". septemberfilm.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-04-27.
- "Beats (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- "Beats Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- Ide, Wendy (19 May 2019). "Beats review – raving against the dying of the light". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2019-11-11 – via www.theguardian.com.
- McCahill, Mike (16 May 2019). "Beats review – blissed-out flashbacks to the 90s rave scene". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-11-11 – via www.theguardian.com.