Beats (18)***
Dir: Brian Welsh
With: Lorn Macdonald, Cristian Ortega, Brian Ferguson
Runtime: 101 minutes
KIERAN Hurley’s play about the rave scene in Scotland comes to the screen with enough energy to light up the national grid.
It is 1994 and Johnno and Spanner (Cristian Ortega and Lorn Macdonald), best friends from childhood, are heading in different directions. Johnno’s family is going up in the world with a move to their own home, while Spanner, whose only family is a drug dealer brother who bullies him, is barely clinging on to whatever he has. Both have reasons to lose themselves in the rave scene that the government of the day is trying to shut down. Before it does, time for the biggest, baddest get together of the summer.
Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh no less, Brian Welsh’s handsomely shot black and white piece will find a willing audience with those who were fans of the music and the scene. Those who were not will see a familiar story about friendship and loyalty with added earbleed-inducing music, strobing visuals, and a little bit of politics thrown in. There is no denying a star is born in Macdonald, though.
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