Beats (2019)

Beats (2019)

A fun account of raving in defiance of Thatcher-era laws

7.6

Movie

UK, United Kingdom
English
Comedy, Crime, Drama, Music
2019
BRIAN WELSH, CHRIS ROBINSON
Amy Manson, Anthony Anderson, Ashley Jackson
100 min

What it's about

Summer 1994, Scotland. Johnno and Spanner are best mates, but Johnno’s family are moving him to a new town and a better life, leaving Spanner behind to face a precarious future. In pursuit of adventure and escape they head out on one last night to an illegal rave before parting ways indefinitely.

The take

This drama is about two friends attempting to rave in 1994 Scotland, after a recent Thatcher-era law banned the act and all music “characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”.

Johnno and Spanner, one living in fear of his older brother and the other of his stepfather, want to turn things around by joining their first and probably last rave. They’re introduced to the world of illegal parties, a movement as influential as punk, that in the 1990s was born in reaction to the U.K.’s oppressive policies.

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