Kieran Hurley’s debut screenplay, co-written with Brian Welsh who
also directs, is an adaptation of his award-winning play Beats.
It is 1994, the party is well and truly over but not before mild-mannered teenager Johnno is encouraged to join his best mate Spanner for one last big night out at an illegal rave. Produced by Rosetta Productions and Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films and executive produced by Steven Soderbergh.
Screening list can be found here.
“It’s a terrific little film犀利士
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.” **** The Guardian
“For a film about youthful passions, though, Beats does the most important thing: it captures those passions, connecting its audience to feelings they recognise, or at least (in the case of us oldsters) dimly remember.” **** The Times
“BEATS is more than just a big-screen rave: it’s funny and euphoric, heartfelt and harrowing” The Sunday Times
“wondrously smart” – **** Evening Standard
“A hands-in-the-air joyride through the acid house rave set… an ode not just to human gatherings but to youth itself. 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.” – **** Time Out
“Beats pulls off the tricky task of delivering a culturally specific coming-of-age movie in a way that feels simultaneously cutting edge yet affectionate.” – **** The Scotsman
“Beats is more than just a big-screen rave: it’s funny and euphoric, heartfelt and harrowing” – The Sunday Times (full cover story attached)
“Beats is an alternately wistful and furious period piece — looking back at an unstable, exciting era of Cool Britannia and incipient cultural liberation that stalled somewhere along the way to Brexit Britain. That’s the subtext, at least: the surface is a rollicking buddy movie, both funny and stomach-churning as it follows two gawky 15-year-old lads seeking a debauched sendoff to childhood.” – Variety