About Another Boy
Tom Heath (Nicholas Galitzine) lives with his God fearing mother (Lisa Dillon) in a block of flats and whilst at school he is often in a world of his own which in turn leads to him being continuously picked on and self harming. One of those who pick on him is Damien (James Tarpey) who has his own band which he plans to enter in to the battle of the bands. But Tom is a closet musician and it is this which leads him to the neighbour below Steve (Luke Perry). Tom discovers that Steve was a former rock star but now lives a low profile life as he has tax issues, health issues and emotional issues which led to him abandoning his career and faking his death. Fearing that Tom will blab about him, Steve reluctantly agrees to teach him how to play guitar, something which they have to keep quiet because of Tom's mother being so against rock music.
Watching "The Beat Beneath My Feet" makes me almost think that someone watched "About a Boy" and thought the story could be turned in to a decent indie drama. Well there are of course some obvious similarities as we have the picked upon kid, the single mum who is a little full on in her ways and the guy who is an island and doesn't want his life changed by a kid who pesters him. But there is plenty more to "The Beat Beneath My Feet" as we have Tom's father who is in a rock band and Steve's health issues which make it hard for him to move.
The thing is that "The Beat Beneath My Feet" is this mix of familiar and predictable but with a really good style which makes you watch even though you can guess how certain things are likely to play out. A lot of that style actually comes out of the characters as we have the Tom; the loner, the loser and the self abuser and Nicholas Galitzine brilliantly brings that to life being amusing as that slightly awkward teenager but at the same time there is this darkness about him. It is the same with Luke Perry's performance as he brings the laughs from this grumpy character but at the same time he brings out the character's physical and emotional pain.
Now as I write this "The Beat Beneath My Feet" reminded me of another movie and that is the blues movie "Crossroads" and that comes not just from the storyline which sees an old musician mentoring a young kid but also that this features a mix of blues and rock soundtrack. And to be honest whilst my days of appreciating original rock music are behind me the soundtrack in this is pretty good and I am sure there will be those who will really like it.
What this all boils down to is that "The Beat Beneath My Feet" was a pleasant surprise and a much more entertaining movie than I had expected, delivering drama, laughs and music in equal measures.
