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Beats

Beats

Drama · Comedy · Music · 2019

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.

Movie details

Beats

2019 Drama · Comedy · Music 1h 40m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Beats?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Brian Welsh

Written by

Kieran Hurley · Brian Welsh

Lorn Macdonald

Lorn Macdonald

Spanner

Laura Fraser

Laura Fraser

Alison

Brian Ferguson

Brian Ferguson

Robert

Ross Mann

Ross Mann

D-Man

Gemma McElhinney

Gemma McElhinney

Laura

Amy Manson

Amy Manson

Cat

R

Rachel Jackson

Wendy

Court is in session

Put Beats on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.