DVD Review: Beats

Beats, set in Scotland in 1994, tells the story of two close friends who decide to attend a rave in protest of a new restrictive and oppressive law, and as a final bit of fun before one of them is to move away. A title card at the beginning gives the historical context for the film: “In 1994, the British Government announced the Criminal Justice & Public Order Bill. It outlawed unlicensed gatherings ‘at which amplified music is played…wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.’” And then the music starts, with a repetitive beat, and we are introduced to the two mates – Spanner and Johnno – dancing in their respective bedrooms while on the phone, excited by the music. The music suddenly stops, and we see the boys’ home lives in a state of relative quiet. The film is mostly in black and white.

Johnno (Cristian Ortega) works at a grocery store, the type of crummy job we all had at that age. Its stifling and lifeless atmosphere is in great contrast to the joy and energy of the music he and Spanner enjoy. His mother’s new husband, Robert (Brian Ferguson), is a police officer, who early in the film attempts to connect to Johnno, but fails. That moment when Johnno goes up to his room and turns on his music is something that we can all remember from our own youths surely, so it’s easier for us to connect to Johnno than it is for Robert to do so. Word comes that there will be an underground rave that Friday, and just in time too, for Robert and Alison (Laura Fraser) are moving the family to a new neighborhood in a week, trying to give them, and perhaps Johnno in particular, a fresh start, away from people like Spanner. But it is Spanner who really needs a fresh start, away from his brute of a brother, Fido (Neil Leiper). And he tries to get it by stealing money from his brother and attending that rave.

When they arrive at the rave, Spanner acknowledges the scene is nothing new, that it’s all been done before. Johnny says yes, but “It’s not been done by us.” And that’s really the thing about being a teenager, isn’t it? It’s nothing new, yet it’s all new to them, and so it matters. That’s a nice moment between them before things get crazy. And when the drugs take hold, the film moves into color. It’s actually a really cool section, with some psychedelic imagery combined with images of machines, working so well with the music. Basically at this point, the film tries to immerse us in the experience the characters are having, and is largely successful. And once having done that, it returns to black and white, and soon trouble arrives, in the form of Fido and his cohorts, as well as the police, who are determined to shut the party down, even if excessive force is needed to do so. The shots of the police moving into the crowd remind me of certain films of the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as The Strawberry Statement. The movie doesn’t end there, however, and what follows is the best and most moving section of the film.

This is a film about friendship, and about taking some chances in the name of friendship. There is a whole lot of joy to this film, and long before the end you will come to care about both Johnno and Spanner. There are also plenty of nice details throughout the movie. In particular, I love the spray-painted message on a wall in the background at one point: “Your fear of looking stupid is holding you back.”

Special Features

The DVD contains few special features. Scotland 1994: The Making Of Beats is a short behind-the-scenes featurette that includes interviews with Keiran Hurley, who co-wrote the screenplay and wrote the play on which it is based, and Brian Welsh, who co-wrote the screenplay and directed the film. They talk about the process of turning the play into the film. Also interviewed are cast members Cristian Ortega and Lorn MacDonald. The shooting of the rave scene is a large part of the focus of this featurette. This is approximately seven minutes.

Two photo galleries are included, the first being production stills, the second being the promotional posters. The film’s trailer is also included.

Beats was directed by Brian Welsh, and released on DVD on September 8, 2020 through Music Box Films. It is presented with optional subtitles. Though the film is in English, interestingly the subtitles come on automatically, as if it were in another language. I suppose that is because people sometimes have trouble with heavy Scottish accents.

DVD Review: Nomad: In The Footsteps Of Bruce Chatwin

Unquestionably one of the world’s best and most respected documentary filmmakers, Werner Herzog is known for work like Grizzly Man, Into The Abyss and Encounters At The End Of The World. In Nomad: In The Footsteps Of Bruce Chatwin, Herzog pays tribute to the life of adventurer and writer and friend Bruce Chatwin, with whom he collaborated in the 1980s. In this film, Herzog travels to many of the places that were important in the life and work of Bruce Chatwin, seemingly accompanied by the very spirit of the man, who died in 1989. In part, that is accomplished by the use of some audio recordings of Bruce Chatwin reading from his first book, In Patagonia, and in part through interviews with people who knew him, but mainly it is done by Herzog’s passion and affinity for the same ideas of Truth that Chatwin pursued.

The film is divided up into chapters, the first of which is titled “The Skin of the Brontosaurus,” which gets into Chatwin’s interest in pre-history. Herzog, who narrates the film and appears in it himself, tells us: “Chatwin was a writer like no other. He would craft mythical tales into voyages of the mind. In this respect, we found out we were kindred spirits, he as a writer, I as a filmmaker.”  And he announces his intention to follow a similarly erratic path in this film in a quest for “big ideas about the nature of human existence.” The film provides bits of Chatwin’s biography, the elements that shaped his interests, his journeys, his writing and his sense of truth. Herzog interviews Nicholas Shakespeare (Chatwin’s biographer) and Elizabeth Chatwin (his widow), among others. In Wales, Elizabeth Chatwin tells us, “Bruce was a nomad, but he was always drawn back to this place.” She adds, “This is a dreaming place.” As you might expect, there is some beautiful footage in this film.

This film also contains some beautiful music. And that is related to Chatwin’s life and work as well. The third chapter of this film, “Songs And Songlines,” deals with Chatwin’s trip to Australia and his interest in the Aborigines and the idea of the land being covered by song. This is one of the most fascinating sections of the films. The film is a personal work, and seems to get more personal as it goes on. In the fifth chapter, Herzog recalls fondly the way Chatwin would tell stories, and the film’s seventh chapter deals with Cobra Verde, Herzog’s 1987 film adaptation of Chatwin’s novel The Viceroy Of Ouidah. There is a touching moment when Herzog is presented with Chatwin’s notes on the screenplay, notes he had never seen before. There are also some wild anecdotes regarding the making of that film. The film’s final chapter is about some of Bruce Chatwin’s personal relationships, and his death from AIDS at the age of 49.

Special Features

The DVD contains a Q&A with Werner Herzog, conducted by Patrick Holland. Herzog talks about how this film project came about, and about trying to refrain from becoming sentimental in the film. He mentions that he hopes people will, after seeing the film, want to read Chatwin’s books. (Seeing the film certainly had that effect on me.) He also gives some of his thoughts on Truth and on our current reality. He fields some questions from the audience, and at one point says, “I don’t like introspection that much,” which is interesting.

The DVD also contains the film’s trailer.

Nomad: In The Footsteps Of Bruce Chatwin was released on DVD on November 17, 2020 through Music Box Films.