David Farnor | On 11, Sep 2014

Got a little rhythm, a rhythm, a rhythm / That pit-a-pats through my brain / So darn persistant / The day isn’t distant / When it’ll drive me insane.

A man is lying down. He stares into the distance. He smiles.

There’s nothing quite like a close-up of Ben Whishaw’s face to open a movie. Already, his bruised expression and glazed eyes start to conjure up questions, echoed by the short film’s even shorter, evocative title.

BEAT. Is that his name? The battering he was presumably subjected to the night before?

The other possibility arrives when he gets out of bed – and the soundtrack kicks in. The music starts slow, a dirge of discord, but soon accelerates into a driving tune of percussion and assorted plinks and plonks; a cacophany of noise.

Is he actually listening to it? Is it all in his head?

Whatever it is, it follows him where he goes. As he puts invisible headphones on over his beanie. As he walks through the streets, thumping his hands as though pushing a glass wall aside. As he eats his Rice Krispies, told to shush by a cheeky cartoon mascot with an equally monosyllabic name.

Ben Whishaw is hypnotic to watch, moving to a fascinating rhythm that governs his limbs. He glides, he runs, he spins. He’s got dance moves to rival Sam Rockwell. And throughout, he beats – on anything his fingers can find.

This reverie moves from enchanting to unsettling as it increases in scale and enters the wider world. It’s when we see its effect on other people that Aneil Karia’s film really finds its groove. Banging on a table gets him kicked out of a coffee shop, the incessant tempo only interrupted by a man shouting abuse at a bus stop.

The director (who created the fantastic countdown sequence for the opening of the 2012 Olympics) plays upon conformity and spontaneity with an arresting urgency, with DoP Stuart Bentley capturing the vibrant rush of energy against the grimy London streets.

Is he mentally unbalanced? Desperate to escape the boring non-dancers around him?

It’s not long until he runs head first into one of them and they respond to his unconventional happiness in the manner many would: by thumping him in the head.

A man is lying down. He stares into the distance. He smiles.

After screening at last year’s London Film Festival, BEAT is released today on We Are Colony, a new global VOD platform for indie films. You can watch it below. We’ll bring your more information about We Are Colony soon.

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