Much like Chris Coghill's other film "Spike Island" the plot is merely an excuse to drive a nostalgia trip forwards, there's no substance to it at all. I think the main driving point is that two young men in their 20s are organising a rave as if that's some sort of unique story, I'd argue that almost all rave organisers at that time were young men in their 20s.
It's also a poorly executed and anachronistic nostalgia trip at that, the fashion and overall aesthetic is very much a mashup of different periods of the rave scene from 1988-1999 that has been appropriated for the early 2010s, which many "period" films particularly low budget ones are guilty of. The music is also all over the place but that's the same with the slightly superior "Beats" from 2019, I kind of get it as the vague setting makes it appeal to a wider audience but it also paints a false picture of the rave scene, I promise you that no one in 1990 was listening to Mentasm by Joey Beltram because it hadn't come out in 1990.
The film would have never survived on its plot alone but I feel like it would have been more valid as mindless nostalgia if it had more direction, I. E the early illegal acid house raves of 1988-1990, the big legal breakbeat hardcore raves taking over in 1991-1993, the decline in the mid-late 90s etc. Because the setting is so jumbled and inauthentic it means the film doesn't work. Chris's other work "Spike Island" is a significantly worse film but has a bigger audience because it actually sticks to one setting which in turn makes it more valuable as an excuse for a limp plotted nostalgia trip.
It scores some points because the two talented lead actors do the absolute best with the fairly shallow roles they've been given, every other character is fairly forgettable though to be honest.
Props are also due for not falling in to cliche period dialogue like so many British films set in the past do for the sake of reminding you that it's not in modern day, none of that "I rented this new VHS that came out, got home and my Amiga wasn't working, drove my 1990 Ford Escort to Dixon's to buy a new one, because it's 1990. Did I mention I hate our current prime minister Margaret Thatcher?"
Also poor effort including that VERY obviously modern stock footage shot of Amsterdam.
It's also a poorly executed and anachronistic nostalgia trip at that, the fashion and overall aesthetic is very much a mashup of different periods of the rave scene from 1988-1999 that has been appropriated for the early 2010s, which many "period" films particularly low budget ones are guilty of. The music is also all over the place but that's the same with the slightly superior "Beats" from 2019, I kind of get it as the vague setting makes it appeal to a wider audience but it also paints a false picture of the rave scene, I promise you that no one in 1990 was listening to Mentasm by Joey Beltram because it hadn't come out in 1990.
The film would have never survived on its plot alone but I feel like it would have been more valid as mindless nostalgia if it had more direction, I. E the early illegal acid house raves of 1988-1990, the big legal breakbeat hardcore raves taking over in 1991-1993, the decline in the mid-late 90s etc. Because the setting is so jumbled and inauthentic it means the film doesn't work. Chris's other work "Spike Island" is a significantly worse film but has a bigger audience because it actually sticks to one setting which in turn makes it more valuable as an excuse for a limp plotted nostalgia trip.
It scores some points because the two talented lead actors do the absolute best with the fairly shallow roles they've been given, every other character is fairly forgettable though to be honest.
Props are also due for not falling in to cliche period dialogue like so many British films set in the past do for the sake of reminding you that it's not in modern day, none of that "I rented this new VHS that came out, got home and my Amiga wasn't working, drove my 1990 Ford Escort to Dixon's to buy a new one, because it's 1990. Did I mention I hate our current prime minister Margaret Thatcher?"
Also poor effort including that VERY obviously modern stock footage shot of Amsterdam.