I wasn't sure at first. Mainly because it's a rave film and, in the 1990s, I was a riot grrrl. That said, I do remember feeling a frisson of excitement when Castlemorton happened. If you weren't alive at the time, it's hard to overestimate the shock waves this one illegal rave caused back in 1992. Some people still think it was singlehandedly responsible for the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Four days of hedonism, trespass, drugs and rave music in Wiltshire over the May bank holiday weekend certainly caused as much of a political stir as the Poll Tax Riots had two years previously, and those four days so shook the constabulary and society that it caused questions to be asked in Parliament. I'm not exaggerating here: It is a matter of public record, distilled beautifully into digestible and highly evocative text by Matthew Collin in his book Altered States.
I watched the trailer for Beats. It looked good, I said yes.
Unfortunately, I forgot to put the date for the press night in my planner and, consequently, forgot to attend the Printworks on that particular evening.
I only realised what I'd done a day or two afterwards when I was listening to Lauren Laverne on 6music one morning and she was interviewing the director, Brian Welsh, about the film. "I wonder when that screening is" I mused, searching through my emails. Then "Oh...bugger..."
I watched the trailer again. The film still looked good.
I paid to go and see it at HOME that week instead.
Because I watched it at about three o'clock in the afternoon with about three other people, I wouldn't say it was quite the right dynamic, audience wise, but the film was still brilliant.
I'd seen Human Traffic back in the early 2000's, and while bits of it are funny, it's not what you'd call realistic. Beats, on the other hand, is the natural heir to the kitchen sink drama and, as such, it is very realistic, very compelling, and very, very good.
You can read my review here.
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