''30 Beats'' is a 2012

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film written and directed by Alexis Lloyd. It stars Ingeborga Dapkunaite,

Jason Day Jason Anthony Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer. Day had early success as a professional, earning PGA Tour membership in his teens and winning an event in his third season, the HP Byron Nelson Championship. In 20 ...

Vahina Giocante Vahina Giocante (born 30 June 1981) is a French actress. Career As ''Marie'' in '' Marie Baie des Anges'' (1997), she is among a group of young wanderers who become enmeshed in love, hate, and violence on the French Riviera. In 1999, she appe ...

Paz de la Huerta María de la Paz Elizabeth Sofía Adriana de la Huerta y Bruce (born September 3, 1984), known professionally as Paz de la Huerta (), is an American actress, model, and painter. She began her career as a teenage model before appearing in suppor ...

Justin Kirk Justin Kirk (born May 28, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Prior Walter in the HBO miniseries ''Angels in America'' (2003), for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Ac ...

, Ben Levin,

Lee Pace Lee Grinner Pace (born March 25, 1979) is an American actor. He starred as Thranduil the Elvenking in The Hobbit (film series), ''The Hobbit'' trilogy and as Joe MacMillan in the period drama television series ''Halt and Catch Fire (TV series), ...

, Condola Rashad, Thomas Sadoski, and

Jennifer Tilly Jennifer Tilly (born Jennifer Ellen Chan; September 16, 1958) is an American-Canadian actress and professional poker player. Known for her distinctive breathy voice and comedic timing, she is the recipient of a Saturn Award, and a GLAAD Award, ...

. The film was produced by Worldview Entertainment and distributed by

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

through its

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions, LLC is an American independent production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff. Lionsgate Films Lionsgate Films (spelled as Lions ...

banner. It was released theatrically and on VOD on July 20, 2012.

Plot

The plot is set in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

over three days in the lives of 10 different characters who interact with each other in various sexual encounters, which follow from one character to the next. It begins when a young woman named Julie ( Condola Rashad) meets at a loft with her former anthropology professor, Adam (

), where she tells him that she is a virgin and wants him to take her virginity. Afterward, the plot shifts to Adam, who visits a tarot reader named Erika (

) for advice on his sexual prowess and superstitions. She performs a ritual on him to "cleanse" Adam of his sexual needs. Erika then meets with Diego (

), a much younger bicycle messenger whom she meets for weekly sexual trysts in a Harlem apartment, where Diego confides in her that he is in love with another woman. Erika gives him advice on how to court her. Diego then goes to the house of Laura (

), the woman he has a fixation on, where she invites him in but tells him that she cannot have sex, for she has a bad heart and had surgery where she carries a large scar on her chest. Diego tells her to accept her physical deformity as it is to feel accepted. Laura then goes to her chiropractor, named Matt (

), where she dresses up in revealing underwear and tries to seduce him. He first refuses her advances but eventually gives in to them. The next day, Matt visits Kim (

), a young French woman he is dating, who reveals to him all about her own sexually active life with other men and women and her comfort with it. Kim works as a switchboard operator in a local answering service, where a regular caller named Julian ( Thomas Sadoski) wants to meet with her for lunch the following day. Unsure of the man he is, Kim has her girlfriend meet with him at a local cafe. She becomes uncomfortable with the way Julian hits it off with the other woman, so she reveals herself. Julian understands Kim is unsure, and they spend the night together in a threesome with Kim's girlfriend. Julian is revealed to be a speechwriter who visits a call girl named Alice ( Ingeborga Dapkunaite) on a weekly basis, where she practices bondage acts on him. Alice tells Julien that she is considering giving up her call girl profession to open her own art gallery and cannot see him anymore. Julian tries to persuade Alice not to give up on what she does best, but her mind is made up, and she walks out to spend alone time in her new artist studio. Alice goes to a health spa, where she meets and has a sexual encounter with a younger man named Shawn (Ben Levin) in the steam room. Shawn is rushed to the hospital after he slips and hits his head and cannot remember the sexual encounter due to short-term memory loss. Alice accompanies him to the hospital to tell Shawn that their encounter did happen. After Shawn leaves the hospital, the events come full circle when he meets with his childhood friend, who happens to be Julie. He first tells Julie that he wants to have sex with her, and Julie disapproves, claiming it would be weird since they are best friends. The next day, they meet up, and Julie decides she wants to try having sex and assumes Shawn is a virgin; he protests and says her reasons yesterday were valid and he is not a virgin, but she does not believe it and convinces him to have sex on the rooftop. The final scene is of Julie breaking the red bracelet she shared with her anthropology professor and holding hands with Shawn while he reads a book.

Cast

* Ingeborga Dapkunaite as Alice *

as Diego *

as Kim *

as Laura *

as Adam * Ben Levin as Shawn *

as Matt * Condola Rashad as Julie * Thomas Sadoski as Julian *

as Erika

Reception

"Clearly aiming for high artistic ground, the film doesn't even satisfy on an arousal level, with the discreet nudity and endless yakking not exactly proving a turn-on," said ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' of the film.

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, 30_beats 2012 films 2012 romantic comedy-drama films 2012 independent films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films American erotic romance films American independent films American romantic comedy-drama films English-language independent films English-language romantic comedy-drama films Roadside Attractions films Worldview Entertainment films