Title: Beats
MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: Brian Welsh
Starring: Cristian Ortega, Lorn Macdonald, Laura Fraser
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

What It Is: Young Johnno (Ortega) is just hanging about with his friend Spanner (Macdonald). They are simple boys they like girls and house music. There’s only one problem…under the law gatherings with music containing a repeated beat are strictly prohibited. When the ever elusive DJ D-Man (Ross Mann) has a party going on and the boys receive an invite this is too good to pass up. Now as he prepares to move away this might be the last hurrah for him and his best friend.

What We Think: A stunning feature. Using black and white really helped mask some of the technical deficiencies. All of the young actors give honest performances. No one feels like they’re acting instead we feel like a fly on the wall in a moment of time. The music is a force within the feature that moves the characters towards the plot and provides us some good listening simultaneously. Everything flows wonderfully and Welsh’s deft directorial hand makes this feel like a breeze. When you look at the actors he’s working with they aren’t the most seasoned. I fact this was Cristian Ortega’s first role.

Our Grade: B+, Structured well, told well. Simple storytelling is the order of the day. This movie is a stunner. So much of it is just a coming of age story. Set against a backdrop that does not help our young protagonists. It really explores what life was like at that time for that group (teenagers). I cannot recommend this film any more highly than I am right now! See this one! Even if you’re like me and you don’t particularly care for house music, it’s still worth your time. Gimme a beat!