Rise Above the Noise
Beats is a 2019 American film Coming of Age Story about talented amateur music producer August Monroe (Khalil Everage), a high school kid suffering from anxiety and PTSD, who is befriended by former music producer turned school security guard Romelo (Anthony Anderson).
This film provides examples of:
- Anger Born of Worry: When August's mother Carla is angry at her son, it's for this reason.
- Bittersweet Ending: Romelo ends up signing the divorce papers, and August doesn't end up signing with Ill Note Records (Romelo ends up killing the deal because August wouldn't have seen any royalties beyond the initial payment). But August eventually finds the courage to start attending school again, is seen with Romelo in the studio working on Kari's Song, and the film ends with him about to talk to Niyah again.
- Leitmotif: Kari's melody, that forms the basis for Kari's Song.
- My Beloved Smother: When August sneaks out with Romelo and Niyah to go to a party at a club (where his song is playing), August's mother comes home early to find him missing. She calls the police, is furious when Romelo eventually shows up with August and Niyah, and ends up having Romelo arrested after accusing him of kidnapping them.
- The Shut-In: August's crippling anxiety and PTSD
- Survivor's Guilt: A large part of August's anxiety and PTSD revolves around seeing his sister shot and killed. The bullet hit him too, but he survived. August blames himself because the only reason she was out there with him was because to bring him home for dinner.
