akila gujarati news paper: AGLIFF24 MOVIE REVIEW: OFFBEAT

Premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival and winner of a Teddy Award, 28 year old Jan Gassmann, directed (and co-writen with Max Fey) his powerful debut feature film, Offbeat, bringing to the screen a new contribution to gay movie characters. This powerful documentary styled drama set in the world of Zurich Switzerland?s underground rap scene is utterly absorbing and brilliantly acted from start to finish. I?m thrilled to say that of the 190 films I have review for aGLIFF24 this year, this is my personal number 2 film festival pick.

Filmed on a 6 month timeline from November thru April, Lukas, played by Hans-Jacob Muhlthaler, who incidentally wrote all the songs, gives a breakthrough performance of a rapper who defines himself by his romantic relationship with his manager Mischa, (Dominico Pecoraio) 20 years his senior, and the rap music he creates. What?s also impressive is that it presents a gay rapper in a very normal matter of fact way while conveying the seriousness of this love story.

The film opens as Lukas and Mischa enjoying a lazy afternoon in bed on vacation in Italy. Quickly, the vacation is over and they are back in a bleak, cold, Swiss winter and in the underground clubs of the Zurich?rap scene. Lukas? limited success as a rapper and Mischa?s resistance to go public with their love affair, affects their relationship and Lukas? insecurities-leading to one of many alcohol and drug-induced binges, eventually overdosing and landing Lukas in the hospital. Mischa has had enough and ends their relationship for good.

It will take months for Lukas to get over the breakup. Without rap and Mischa, Lukas is totally lost and is unable to figure out who he is or what he wants out of life and left with no choice, moves back in with his mother and younger brother. His brother Sami, a.k.a. rapper Samsonite, (Manuel Neuburger) has a difficult relationship with his older brother Lukas but hopes to become a successful rapper in his own right someday.

Rap is used as a background character, articulating an internal dialogue as poetry to express Lukas? feelings that he otherwise would have difficulty in expressing. The rap lyrics are sharp, biting, inventive, and impressively well written making you wish you knew the language to hear the rhythm and the rhyme that reflect the pulse of this film.

With Lukas gone, Mischa looks to Sami as a potential new rap star and begins helping to develop his talents and career. One night while Sami is performing in a club, Lukas interrupts the show and attempts to show his younger brother who?s the better rapper, in a rap showdown that cuts each brother to the core.

This film will help you appreciate rap as an art form as well as a means of self expression. Ultimately, this is a story about a complicated relationship and complicated relationships issues. The story is dark, and sophisticated with bold and honest dialogue setting a new bar for originality and directness in a gay film. There is nothing ?OFF? about this film what so ever and director Jan Gassmann will have a stellar career ahead of him as a film maker.

The Director, Jan Gassmann send his greeting to aGLIFF24 and his personal insight into the making of his film Offbeat.

?This film has been very important to me, since it?s been my first long ?fiction? film. I?m coming from the documentary side of filmmaking and I really wanted to implement that in my fiction work. So most of the actors were non-professional but could really relate to the subject. It was a long way of writing this film together with Max Fey. On the set we were improvising the dialogs, even though they existed in the script. It was about creating a real scene, a moment that felt realistic. We worked almost only with natural lightning and tried to live that story during the shooting of 2 months. The actors even lived on the set, sometimes. It was also important that the story felt realistic, made up from a lot of experiences and feelings we had
at the beginning of writing. It?s a story about someone trying to become an adult. He develops in his music, in his relationships with Mischa, his ex-boyfriend and with his brother. So maybe the whole film
only shows a small step in a life of a random guy, but for me it was important to tell this small story, instead of showing someone saving the world. From the point of view that the film is being shown at a
Gay and Lesbian Film festival I want to say, that for us it was always important to show the fact of Lukas being gay as something very normal, which is complicated, but as something coming out of real
life. As one part of his life, next to others. So it?s definitely not a movie about the fact of being gay, but it is a very important part in it. While writing we had the impression that it shouldn?t be treated as something special. He?s a rapper, maybe gay, maybe bisexual-in a way we think it is not that important, because ultimately we are talking about love. He is heartbroken and trying to get his life fixed. But some things can?t be fixed so easy. Music is his way to do it.?

The feature is preceded by the short film Tell Me A Memory, a sweet, elegant yet ultimatey heartbreaking story of a man trying to hang onto his love. The story is of Jack dealing with his much older lover?s deterioration due to Alzheimer?s. It is a touching film with a subject matter very relevant.

Contributed by Roger Cook, Screening Team

FEATURE:?OFFBEAT (Dir Jan Gassmann, CH; Gay; Run Time 95min)
SHORT:?TELL ME A MEMORY (Dir John Bryant Crawford; US; Gay, Ally-Friendly; Run Time 11min)

10September: 4:00PM, Violet Crown

Offbeat Official Site
Tell Me A Memory Official Site

See the Trailer for Offbeat here