There’s a moment in 30 Beats, from first-time writer/director Alexis Lloyd, where an attractive older woman (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) is trying to seduce a young man (Ben Levin) in a spa. The young man is unaware his father has actually hired the woman, a prostitute, to be his first sexual experience. As the two sit staring at each other across a hot tub, we briefly hear their inner thoughts about just how awkward the situation is and what the hell should they do now? It’s a sweet and funny exchange because it resonates as truthful. Yet, by being the only moment of its kind, it also exemplifies what’s wrong with the other 87 and a half minutes of the film.
30 Beats is an ensemble drama set in modern-day New York, based on the structure and themes of a stage play from the late 18th century called La Ronde, by Arthur Schnitzler. It’s neither the first film based on this play, nor will it be the last, even this year (see Fernando Meirelles’ upcoming 360). The structure is a series of interlocking two-person vignettes where we follow one character from the first scene to the next, and then the new character in the second scene moves on to the third, and so on.
The theme is … doing it. And thank God, because the subject of sexuality has gone ignored in cinema for far too long.
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